Happily Ever After
by Amras Felagund
Summary: Years pass by, but the love of a boy and a girl endures the rigors of those bent on keeping them apart... TimmyTrixie, CosmoWanda, TootieOC, ChesterOC. DPFOP xover later on! Rated T for dark elements and violent images later on. Complete! R&R!
1. Prologue

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents or the characters herein. And judging from how things are going in the latest seasons, I don't think I'd want to. Trixie's been made into a shallow twit! Anyway, here's my first Fairly OddParents fanfiction...)

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

_This story began 25 years ago in the city of Dimmsdale._

_This story is already over. Whether people like it or not, it is carved in stone, and cannot be altered._

_This story is of love and loss, deception and acception, and the beginning of a new life._

_It is the story of the coming of age of two young lovers, and their offspring._

_It is a funny thing about this story--_

_This story happened one score and five years ago, yet it also happened much earlier, much farther in distance, and much more tragic in outcome._

_Perhaps in such a story, they may have been central in the struggle for control of a galactic government._

_But now is not the time for that story._

_This is how persistence pays off. How denial can make one's true feelings stronger. How the end of the magic in a young boy's life approaches. How a new magic will unite him with his true love._

_Forever._

_His Happily Ever After begins now._

* * *

**PROLOGUE: Beginning of Destiny**

A pink-haired fairy floats over the kindergarten as the children descend from the bus.

This is more than just a fairy. He is the one who brought many families together. With just a twang of his bow and a prick of his arrow, many have fallen in love, whether they liked it or not. Worst enemies can become dearest of lovers at his will. He is the chooser of couples.

The matchmaker of the heavens.

He is the God of Love, Cupid, and his eyes are currently on certain children.

One is a small boy; Cupid feels in his gut that, somehow, this boy will meet him sometime. Cupid barely stifles a giggle at the sight, as the boy wears _pink_! He has no clue why a boy would wear such a feminine color, but that is irrelevent. This boy looks almost comical, not simply because of the color of his clothes, but also because of his very prominent buckteeth and vacant expression. He has hair of chestnut-brown and deep, blue eyes.

Cupid already knows his name. He had the connections. This boy was Timothy 'Timmy' Thomas Turner, the only child of Butch and Tara Turner.

He turns his gaze to the next child, a girl. She has dark-violet eyes, hidden behind glasses that seemed too large for her face. Her hair, which was so dark-brown that it looked nearly black, is drawn up into two pigtails. She wears an outfit decades outdated, and Cupid's magic tells him that she just received braces. She looks as if the term 'underdog' were invented specifically to describe her.

He knows her name as well. Her name is Dorothy 'Tootie' Victorson, the secondborn daughter to Victor and Berenice Victorson.

Cupid looks at the third child, another girl. She has beautiful teal eyes that are, even at this early age, lined with lavender eyeshadow. Her silky, raven-black hair is drawn behind her ears by a lavender hairband. She wears a lavender t-shirt with a frill around the neck, a brilliant white skirt, and white boots. And is she ever beautiful!

He knows her name as well, like Timmy and Tootie. She was Beatrix 'Trixie' Tang II, the only daughter of Nigel Tang and Beatrix Tang I.

Cupid looks back and forth from Timmy to Tootie, then Tootie to Trixie, and then Trixie to Timmy. He looks back and forth between the two girls for a few minutes.

Cupid lowers his brow. Tootie is an underdog for sure; Trixie has all the riches and beauty, but Tootie looks like she may be an ideal mate for Timmy. Cupid knows how miserable she is at home with her horrible sister, Victoria. Somehow, Cupid knows they will share that suffering in the future. He feels Timmy should learn to see inner beauty.

He pulls from his quiver two love arrows and removes from his back his bow.

He levels his bow.

He takes aim -

And something happens in that moment that had never happened before to Cupid. Something that will change the lives of these three forever:

A small voice in the back of Cupid's head mutters, _Money can't buy love._

And Cupid hesitates. After a second, he lowers his bow, places his arrows back in their quiver, and places his hand to his chin in thought.

He knows everything there was to know about their three families. He knows how the Turners and the Victorsons had always been at the bottom of the popularity chart. He also knows how rich and popular the Tang family was. Even so, love still permeates their family.

Well, from her father anyway.

At the insistence of Beatrix Tang I, Trixie's mother, the Tangs have taken to belittlement of the lower classes and their habits to preserve their status as most popular family in Dimmsdale. In Trixie's case, however, there is _pity_ rather than ignorance. She feels sorry for the less fortunate members of society, and Cupid knows that even now she is beginning to take an interest in the hobbies of the unpopular crowd. If this ever leaks into the public eye, she will be reduced to a mere laughingstock, and she will be disowned from the Tang family forevermore.

Timmy has many of the same interests, though is much more open about them because of the lack of restrictions about them. Strangely, he does not discriminate against the popular students for their snobbish attitude and uncaring disposition. Whether this is his truly compassionate nature shining through, or his short attention span, is a mystery to Cupid.

Tootie is an underdog, Cupid could admit. And it only makes sense that perhaps Timmy and Tootie should be together. Trixie does have _everything_, after all: fame, fortune, _and_ beauty. Yet, Cupid has a feeling that pairing Timmy and Tootie would be somewhat predictable, and he would be ridiculed for a lack of imagination back in Fairy World.

Trixie, meanwhile, wants so badly to help the less fortunate, but is restricted by her status. To maintain her popularity, her parents - specifically her mother - seclude her from the poor and "uncouth", and keep her in the company of other rich and popular families. Even at such an early age, she is already in danger of believing herself to be better than the less popular folk. Her wealth may one day blind her to what it is like to truly care for someone, and she will wind up in a purely money-based relationship and raise a family with no love. Like her mother. She is not as fortunate as many would believe; she is truly someone to be pitied.

A thought strikes Cupid.

_The Destiny Arrows!_

Cupid gropes for the Destiny Arrows in his quiver, but pauses. The last time he used these very special arrows was nearly 500 years ago, back when his job required he wear a blindfold, and the very boy and girl who he used these arrows on had committed suicide mere weeks later. He was the object of much ridicule at the time, and still fairies make jabs about it to this day. Since then, Cupid never used the Destiny Arrows, but still carried them, in case he'd ever need them again.

Cupid prepares to return to Fairy World, when he remembers that that was the only time that happened. He used the Destiny Arrows dozens of times before, and that star-crossed romance was the only one with so tragic an outcome. Perhaps this will be like those other times before the tragedy of those young Italian lovers.

Cupid removes a Destiny Arrow from his quiver, pointing it at Timmy.

"_His love for her will burn with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns, and he will lover her for all eternity. He will attempt to win her heart again and again, and will win her heart at fifteen years of age_," he says. The Arrow glows gold for an instant, then reverts to normal.The Arrow remains pointing at Timmy as Cupid lets it hover in the air to place a similiar spell on the second Arrow, which he points at Trixie.

He chants: "_And his love for her will reciprocate, but she will hide her affection behind a veil of resentment and hatred. Her compassion will shine through this veil, which will shred over the years as she comes to terms with her true feelings. Eventually, she will confess her love for him at the age of fifteen years._" Like the first, a golden glow emanates from the Arrow, and it fixates on Trixie as he places the spell on the last Destiny Arrow, which points at Tootie.

"_And she will love him as well, but her love will be unrequited,_" he recites. "_After many trials, she will ultimately fail to win his heart; however, she will find true love with another, and live a happy life with this man, and be the godmother of her old love's children._" Another gilden glow later, and his plan is complete. Now is the time to execute his plan.

He loads the Arrows into his bow. The Arrows points at each of the three children, just seconds before they will see each other first.

3...

2...

1...

FIRE!

Cupid watches as Timmy stares at Trixie ceaselessly, mumbling something about his "love for her burning with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns". Cupid hovers around to face Timmy, unseen by anyone, and sees boundless love in his eyes.

Exactly as he planned.

Cupid turns to face Trixie. He can see the love and longing in her eyes as well, but it is immediately subdued with false derision as she declares him "not worthy of her attention". Even so, Cupid can sense with his magic that this is a downright lie.

Exactly as he planned.

Cupid turns to face Tootie, but she isn't there. He hears a squeal, and turns to Timmy. Tootie is clinging to him, claiming that she is in love with him. Timmy fights her off, telling her that she is a freak, and Tootie begins crying that he "didn't give her love a chance".

Exactly as he planned.

Not that he is callous or cold-hearted; rather, it is good to know that Timmy was loyal to his feelings for Trixie.

Cupid has hope for Trixie. Hope that she will learn not to discriminate. Hope that she will learn that money isn't everything. Hope that she will learn that love can be found anywhere.

For he does not focus on the present; he is also mindful of the future.

And their future looks bright.

* * *

(As of **October 17th**, the age Cupid chose to be year when Timmy and Trixie confess their love for one another has been changed from 18 to 15, so it happens earlier in the story. And as of February 11th, the Prologue has been redone in the present tense, and edited to match the characterization of Trixie's parents later on.)


	2. Chapter 1

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents or the characters herein. And judging from how things are going in the latest seasons, I don't think I'd want to.)

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 1: Awakening**

In the darkness of his room, Timmy Turner sat bolt upright, a small yelp escaping his lips. His heart racing, he wiped the cold sweat from his brow. He hoped the wet spot in his bed was sweat too.

"Timmy, what's wrong?" asked a familiar feminine voice from Timmy's fishbowl.

Timmy looked over at the two goldfish staring concernedly at him. They were not ordinary goldfish. Their eyes were large and expressive; one had bright-green eyes, the other's light-pink. But this was not all that was unusual about these fish.

Their names were Cosmo and Wanda, and they were Timmy's fairy godparents.

Husband and wife for nearly 10,000 years, they had been fairy godparents to more children than just Timmy. They had been godparents to children such as Denzel Q. Crocker, Bill Gates, and Adolf Schicklgruber. Not all of them turned out the way they would have liked; Denzel would become Timmy's least favorite teacher, and obsessed with proving the existence of fairy godparents.

But they weren't worried about that right now. They were concerned for their current godchild, who had them for barely over a year now. He had only just saved the world from the tyranny of his evil babysitter the previous day, and was still recovering from the events which had unfolded.

Timmy thought of the question for a second then replied simply, "Bad dream."

"What happened in it, sweetie?" Wanda asked worriedly as she and her husband disappeared from the fishbowl, reappearing in their natural fairy form over it.

"Well...Trixie was ignoring me again," Timmy said. "So I wished we were the last two people in the universe. Apart from you guys, of course," he hastily added, noticing the looks Cosmo & Wanda gave him. "Things went fine, then Trixie started goin' nuts when I started ignoring her for some reason! She wanted me to adore like hundreds of boys do every day, and when I broke up with her for some airspace, she chased me with a buzz saw! And she tried shredding me with a giant lawnmower and blowing me up with a helicopter that had missiles sold separately! And she even tried shredding me with its propellors! And-and-and-..." Here, Timmy began stuttering dumbly, as though he couldn't form with words the vision he just had. After a few seconds, he collapsed into a helpless heap on the bed, crying loudly.

Wanda floated down to Timmy's level, placing a comforting hand on Timmy's shuddering shoulder. "Aww, don't worry about it, Timmy. It was only a dream."

"Yeah!" Cosmo agreed. "Trixie may hate your guts, but not enough to kill you! She only hates you enough to sic her big bodyguard on you!"

Timmy sighed depressedly. Once again, Cosmo's stupidity had amplified his already sour mood.

Wanda glared at her idiotic husband, then turned a sympathetic gaze towards her broken godchild. "Timmy, you don't have to worry about that dream coming true. Trixie would _never_ act like that."

Timmy slowly looked up at his godmother. "S-she _wouldn't_?"

"Of course not," Wanda said in a reassuring tone. "According to an anonymous tipster, and I quote: 'Trixie is at heart an emotionally insecure young woman whose true feelings are smothered by her popularity'." Noticing the befuddled look Timmy gave her, Wanda simplified it. "In other words, she would lose her popularity if she showed her true feelings to less popular kids."

Timmy sat gaping at this, wondering what this all meant. Of course, his tiny 10-year-old brain quickly jumped to a conclusion that he particularly liked. "So, Trixie _loves_ me? I can't wait to find out if she does!"

"I didn't say that, Timmy," Wanda replied. "I just said that she can't let her sympathy for the lower classes show through the facade she hides behind, lest she lose her popularity."

"Wait. What does 'fakade' mean?" Cosmo asked stupidly. "And is 'lest' a kind of cheese?"

Wanda sighed, then poofed a nickel into her hand.

Cosmo gasped. "PHILIP! I haven't seen you since we first saw that war prince from Yugoto- Yutopo-... I swear I could say that name before!"

Wanda tossed 'Philip' the girl nickel into the fishbowl, where Cosmo immediately poofed. As a goldfish, he grabbed Philip, yelped "My nickel!" and swam straight into the castle.

Wanda watched the castle intently for several seconds. Once she was sure Cosmo wouldn't come out any time soon, she turned to Timmy, "Anyway, Timmy, you won't have to worry about that wish ever coming true." She raised her star-tipped wand, and in a puff of pink smoke, a large purple book with "Da Rules" written in large, friendly letters on its cover appeared.

"According to the 1138th Amendment to Da Rules, 'No child can wish any person or persons did not exist in any way'," read Wanda from Da Rules. "It was written as of 1900 when one of our former godchildren, Adolf Schicklgruber, tried wishing away the world's Jews. Fortunately, Jorgen von Strangle scrambled the fairies and restored Earth to its old self. Adolf's memories of us were erased, and we were reassigned to a more trustworthy child."

Timmy sighed in relief, then he thought for a second. "Wait, so that means that my dream will never happen?"

"Exactly, sport!" Wanda said cheerfully. "So you still have a chance of getting in Trixie's good book!"

"Yeah!" Timmy cheered. "I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait to go to school and find out her feelings for me!"

Wanda raised an eyebrow. "You're really intent on living with her, aren't you, Timmy?"

Timmy looked up, hastily putting the engagement ring back under his silly pink hat. "What makes you think that?"

Wanda eyed Timmy suspiciously. "Where'd you get that engagement ring, Timmy?"

Timmy froze for a second. "...Internet."

"Nice try, Timmy," Wanda smirked as she turned back to her fishbowl.. "I'll talk to Cosmo about granting you those types of wishes." She raised her wand and poofed into her and Cosmo's castle.

A knock came from Timmy's door.

"Timmy!" came a paternal voice from the other side of the door. "We're respecting your privacy by knocking but asserting our authority as your parents by coming in anyway!" Timmy's door was subsequently smashed down by the parental battering ram used by Timmy's parents.

Timmy's dad looked disapprovingly down at him, "What's with all the noise, young man?"

"I had a bad dream, and I was talking to myself," Timmy explained, grinning nervously. "In, uhh, three different voices?"

"Works for me!" Timmy's dad exclaimed.

"What happened in your bad dream, Timmy?" Timmy's mom asked concernedly.

"I dreamed that Trixie Tang tried to kill me!" Timmy exclaimed.

"E-GAD! Trixie Tang? The most _popular _girl in Dimmsdale? _Was in your dream?_" Timmy's dad screamed like a girl and fainted.

After a brief silence, Timmy's mom turned back to her son. "Now, Timmy, don't worry about that silly dream. It would _never_ happen; remember that."

"I know, Mom," Timmy hugged his mother. "It was just a dream."

Timmy's mom hugged him in return, and both basked in the love they had for one another. They could have stayed that way forever, mother and son, united by love; however, Timmy's mom had more to say.

"Timmy, you've been chasing Trixie since kindergarten. And she hasn't showed any signs of affection for you."

"She kissed me almost a year ago!" Timmy protested. "And she agreed to be my Valentine once! But then I lost my mind and went out with Icky's little sister."

"It's _Vicky_, Timmy," Timmy's mom corrected disapprovingly. "But I was wondering: maybe you should give up on Trixie and find someone else."

If Cupid had merely struck Timmy with a simple love arrow five years ago, he would have been more willing to go along with this idea. Unfortunately, Cupid used the Destiny Arrows, and so Timmy found such an idea to go against his very reason for living, in his eyes. He would have protested loudly, but Timmy's dad stirred at that moment, drawing his mother's attention.

"Oooh, my head," Timmy's dad muttered. Timmy's mom went over to help him up.

"I'll think about what you said, Mom," Timmy lied. He would give the matter no further thought, and would focus solely on Trixie and only Trixie.

"Good night, Timmy," said Timmy's parents as they closed Timmy's door, leaving Timmy alone with his thoughts.

Timmy wouldn't sleep that night, for fear that the image of Trixie wielding a buzzsaw in his direction should return. But he took relief in the fact that such a situation would never come about.

Ever.

* * *

Timmy's lack of sleep was evident when the sun rose the next morning. He walked groggily yet painfully into the wall two feet from the door to his bathroom, and he realized as he was dressing that he was trying to pull his silly pink hat over his foot like a sock. At breakfast, Timmy's parents suggested that he go back to bed and stay home from school today.

Though Timmy's protests suggested that he did not want to miss Mr. Crocker's big test today, in truth he could have cared less about the test. Just being near Trixie - nay, just being in the same _building_ as Trixie - would get him through the day.

Love would get him through the day.

Timmy boarded the bus alone, as he had told Cosmo and Wanda to take the day off. The walk down the aisle was all a sleepy blur to him, and he nearly tripped over his own feet more than once. He nearly nodded off right there on his seat. But he still clung desperately to consciousness. Even so, he barely noticed the bus stopping with a jolt at each child's house, the concerned looks Chester and A.J. gave him, or even the bus driver's announcement that Trixie Tang had boarded the bus. As the Asian girl walked past him, she gave him a queer look.

"So, aren't you gonna offer me your seat?" she asked. The other popular kids in the bus, Tad, Chad, and Veronica, assumed she asked this merely because it was a routine humiliation the bucktoothed boy faced.

Timmy looked up groggily, and when he saw who spoke to him, instantly forgot any exhaustion he may have had. All he thought of at that moment was Trixie, and his love for her. And he asked, "Do you want to sit with me?"

"Not worthy," Trixie replied haughtily. What no one realized was that Trixie felt a little more dead inside.

She was well aware of the fact that Timmy had a crush on her. But she knew it was more than this. It didn't matter how, but Beatrix Tang knew Timmy's feelings for her went deeper than merely infatuation that would pass in time.

He was in love with her.

And she never admitted this to anyone, but she felt a warm feeling in her heart whenever she looked at him. And when Timmy suffered, she suffered ten-fold. She never mentioned it to anyone. She never wrote it in her diamond-encrusted diaries. She never even told her so-called "friends" about it.

She was in love with him, too.

_But it is not to be_, she thought as she walked to sit with the ones who stole her life.

* * *

This is how it feels to be Trixie Tang, for the past five years:

No one knows of your love for Timmy Turner, which burns in your furnace heart with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns. Not Veronica. Not Tad or Chad. Not even your parents.

You pity him. You will always pity him. And you wonder what attracts him to you like a moth to a flame. Why would he love someone as obnoxious and uncaring as you? You, who are so vastly different from him. You live life to its fullest, and you do not.

You don't even have a life anymore.

The arrogant and snooty façade you have mastered over the years since you've fallen for him is your life. It will be your life forever.

This of course makes you think: what do _you_ find so lovable about _him_? And as you think this, you find that you don't care. All you care is that you love someone outside your family. You know that you mustn't follow this train of thought, or you will actually become what you despise most: what you are pretending to be.

You fear that your urge to hold him close, to kiss him, to _love_ him, will one day overwhelm your desire to remain most popular girl in Dimmsdale. You fear your popularity will be stripped from you forever if that day comes.

Yet, you relish the moments when your love broke through your façade. That day you kissed him when he somehow became popular; you will never forget that moment.

Never.

For one brief instant, you were able to forget about Tad, Chad, Veronica, and even popularity; all you thought of at that moment was Timmy, and your love for him.

And for that brief instant, you felt alive.

Complete.

You were your own being.

You could have been like that forever, taken it further; you could have held him in your arms, professed to him and to the world how much you love him, how much you want to be his wife, how much you yearn for popularity and the prejudices it breeds to vanish into nothingness like a puff of smoke, and for you two to be together forever...

But you didn't.

And you didn't because, when you _could_ have told him of your love for him, when you could have _been_ with him, when you could have been thinking about _him_, you were thinking about yourself...

Yourself and your accursed popularity.

In your furnace heart, your three so-called "friends" burn in your flame. They took your life, your chance at happiness. Who cares about fame and fortune, when you have _love_? They seem to have no interest in your wellbeing, only in the wellbeing of your popularity. They, who take the less fortunate for granted so absolutely. They, who treat the less fortunate, especially your beloved, with such contempt and distaste as to be disgusting. They, whose very presence within 100 feet forces you to act in kind to the less fortunate, especially your beloved.

You are little more than a figurehead, and you cannot do anything about it.

And within your furnace heart, you burn in your own flame.

This is how it feels to be Trixie Tang, for the past five years...

* * *

(**Note:** So how was it? And to those who are wondering, I was trying to emulate the style Matthew Stover used in the _Revenge of the Sith_ novel when I wrote the "This is how it feels to be Trixie Tang" segment. There were a number of "This is how it feels to be..." moments in the _Revenge of the Sith_ novel.

And yes, the nightmare Timmy had at the beginning was the episode "Just the Two of Us", which seems to have alienated many people from sympathizing with Trixie. I never saw that episode, nor do I plan to, but I heard much about it. The "it was just a nightmare" situation was the only way that I could explain Trixie's outrageously homicidal behavior towards Timmy. So, in a way, it did happen, and yet it didn't happen. Remember that!

As always, keep up the good reviews, and I'll keep up the good chapters!

**Edited 2-25-06** because, God help me, I saw "Just the Two of Us". I had to change what Timmy said about his nightmare to match the episode.)


	3. Chapter 2

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents or the characters herein. And judging from how things are going in the latest seasons, I don't think I'd want to. I do own Rudy Reed, though, and Sammy Tang-Hope.)

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 2: New Friends**

Timmy continued to stare after Trixie as she took her seat with her other popular friends, unaware of the maelstrom of contrasting emotions raging inside her. All he knew was that he loved her more than anything, that he wanted to be her husband one day, and that he wanted to--

"Hey, Timmy! Snap out of it!" Chester said, shaking his best friend Timmy, who was staring after Trixie Tang. After a few seconds, Timmy started to shake his head vigorously, clearing his mind and letting his love for Trixie ease to the back of his mind.

"What, Chester?" Timmy asked, a little perturbed that his staring at the most beautiful girl in Dimmsdale was interrupted.

"Look! A new student!" Chester pointed over Timmy's shoulder, and he looked at the seat across from them. There sat a boy, looking somewhat down. Timmy didn't notice the kid getting on the bus. His brilliantly red hair reminded Timmy of Vicky's, except he had no ponytail, and this boy's hair did not seem to evoke fire. His colorless clothes and dull-gray eyes contrasted greatly with his bright hair, and he looked quite pitiful because of it.

"So, what's the problem?" Timmy asked Chester and A.J.; he didn't know what the big deal of a new student was. He only hoped that this kid didn't have eyes for Trixie.

"You know what Mr. Crocker does with new kids," A.J. reminded Timmy, and he shuddered.

Mr. Crocker was a _freak_.

Crocker is a teacher at Dimmsdale Elementary, and Timmy's least favorite teacher. Why? Mr. Crocker is obsessed with proving the existence of fairy godparents; his reaction to his own very utterance of the word causes much speculation as to whether or not he is an aspiring contortionist. Timmy hoped this new kid could avoid getting Crocker as a teacher, and thus avoid any trouble.

* * *

"What are you doing in my classroom?" Crocker shouted at the new kid, who cowered in his desk.

"But Mr. Crocker, I'm a new student!" the boy protested.

"You were three months late for school to me, young man," Crocker insisted. "Perhaps you could have arrived for school on time if you, like young Mr. Turner here, were in possession of... FAIRY GODPARENTS!" As usual, Crocker's body contorted itself in indescribable ways on each syllable of 'fairy godparents'. The new kid tilted his head; this was clearly not to be expected.

"Now, let's see," Crocker 'did the math' on his fingers. "You were late to school for three months. So, you get... ah yes. THREE MONTHS OF DETENTION! STARTING TODAY! And a complimentary... _F!_" Crocker handed the boy a paper with a large, red 'F' on it.

The new kid decided to act up again. "But Mr. Crocker, I didn't even do any work yet!"

"SILENCE! Who's the teacher around here, young man?" Crocker asked irritably, and the boy piped down.

This would be a long day.

* * *

The class could not end soon enough. The second the bell rang, everyone bolted out the door as quickly as possible, not wanting to stay longer than they had to.

Except one boy.

The new kid walked slowly down the hall to the lunch room. The day was terrible so far. He barely did anything yet and a crackpot teacher got him three months of detention just for being a new student! He wondered why at all his parents wanted to move to this crazy city; all it caused him was pain. He lost all his old friends moving here, and not one kid was willing to be his friend.

No one wanted to be.

_I guess it's my lot in life_, the boy thought as he arrived in the lunchroom. He saw a pink-hatted kid who he saw on the bus. The kid was also in Mr. Crocker's class, the boy remembered, and would probably be familiar with him. The boy went to sit at the pink-hatted kid's table.

"Hey," the pink-hatted kid said to him. "You're sitting with us?"

"Mm-hmm," muttered the boy, clearly too glum to say much. "I have to ask you something: is Mr. Crocker always like that?"

"Yes," said the pink-hatted kid and his two friends instantly. "He's always trying to prove that fairies exist, and saying I have them! And he gives me F's all the time!"

The new kid felt relieved; so it _wasn't_ just him.

"He also gives out detentions to new kids directly proportional to how many weeks or months into the year they arrived," said the pink-hatted kid's dark-skinned friend. Once more, the new kid felt less persecuted, since it seemed Mr. Crocker treated _everyone_ the same.

"And... that's about it," said the pink-hatted kid's other friend, a light-skinned kid with blonde hair and braces.

A silence followed so palpable that one could almost taste the discomfort in the air. After a minute of so...

"Thanks," said the new kid. "I feel better now. I thought it was me for a second."

"Don't mention it," said the pink-hatted kid. After a second, he held out his hand. "Timothy Turner. Everyone calls me Timmy."

"Oh," the new kid said, taken aback slightly. Then, he reached out and shook his hand. "Uh, Rudolf Reed. Everyone calls me Rudy."

"Nice to meet you, Rudy," said Timmy.

"Same here, Timmy," replied Rudy, smiling for the first time all day.

_Things look like they're on the up and up_, he thought as he ate lunch with his new friends.

* * *

Timmy got up from the lunch table. "I gotta use the bathroom," he said, walking to the bathroom. Just before he could enter the boys' room...

"Psst! Over here!"

Timmy didn't recognize the voice, but it came from the girls' bathroom. Timmy looked over, and saw a girl about his age and height. She had long brown hair the same color as Timmy's, with a small purple bow on her head. She wore a purple turtleneck/coveralls. And her eyes were so much like Trixie's, but purple rather than bluish-gray. Timmy had seen her on a number of occasions, but never actually spoke with her.

"Come here," hissed the girl, and Timmy hesitated.

"Uhh, I'm sorry, but I can't go in there," Timmy said. "That's the _girls'_ bathroom."

The girl paused for a moment, then said, "One second," and turned back into the bathroom. Timmy could hear her talking with someone about... something.

"Man, I wish I could hear what she's saying," Timmy muttered to himself. But alas, he let Cosmo & Wanda stay home today, and his wish couldn't be granted.

Suddenly, Timmy felt an unusual yet familiar sensation course through his body. Before he could figure out what happened, the girl peeked back around the door, and seemed pleased. She opened the door fully and said, "Okay, you can come in now."

Very reluctantly, Timmy walked through the door into the bathroom. Suddenly feeling like his hat was out of place, Timmy moved to the mirror to re-adjust it...

And saw Timantha staring back at him.

Exactly one year ago, Timmy was turned into a girl named Timantha by Wanda. In revenge, he wished that Cosmo & Wanda switch genders as well. One good thing that came of this, was that Trixie, not realizing that Timantha was in fact the boy that she rejected so frequently, declared "her" her new best friend. It was then that Timmy discovered that Trixie, despite her popularity, was completely into boy stuff like comics and action movies. Of course, he reverted back to normal before her birthday party that day, and despite his birthday speech to her, she catapulted him from her house, simply because her popular friends were there as well.

Timmy knew how this transformation happened, though; this girl had a fairy godparent. Timmy saw as much when he went to Cupid's Big Bash not too long ago. She must have seen him, too, though Timmy couldn't be sure.

"Timmy, this isn't the first time this happened to you," the girl said. "And I saw you at Cupid's Big Bash not too long ago. You and your fairy godparents are quite infamous up there, y'know."

For a second, Timmy hesitated, then he spoke up, "Yeah, I saw you there, too! You have a fairy, right?"

The girl smiled, satisfied that Timmy figured it out. Then she looked up and called out to no one, "Oh, Cindy!"

Suddenly, a pink POOF of smoke appeared over her, and a fairy with curly orange hair, and wearing blue clothes, was floating where the pink cloud appeared. "Yes, Sammy?"

"Timmy here just figured out I have a fairy," the girl said to Cindy, her fairy. "And he - or she, since I just that he was a girl - has fairies, too."

Cindy looked at Timmy, and barely restrained the giggles at his appearance, which was comical even for a girl. "So, you're Cosmo & Wanda's godchild, right?"

"Uh, yes?" Timmy nervously grinned. Then he said, "Well, sort of. I gave them the day off; I think my wishes may be straining their marriage."

"That's a sweet thing to do, Timmy," the girl said, a sweet smile on her face. "And selfless. Other kids wouldn't do something so nice for their fairies, if they didn't expect anything out of it." Then the girl gave Timmy a serious look. "I need your help, Timmy."

"What can I do to help you, uhhh...?" Timmy didn't know this girl's name.

"Samantha," she said, picking up on Timmy's confusion. "But everyone calls me Sammy."

"So, Sammy, how can I help you?" Timmy asked.

Sammy's expression turned to one of mild distress as she said, "Well, I'm trying to get Trixie Tang to notice me, but I can't, even with Cindy's help!"

"Wow! That's just like me!" Timmy was surprised by Sammy's story so far. "Only I want to be her boyfriend!"

"You'd find that kinda hard right now, though, right?" Sammy said, before she started giggling. Timmy chuckled slightly when he figured out why. Sammy continued, "Yeah, I figured that you liked Trixie."

"Actually, my love for her burns with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns," Timmy said, love for Trixie shining in "her" eyes. Then he turned frantic as he said, "But I can't tell her that." Timmy looked about in a panic, as if fearful that Trixie had heard what he said.

Sammy raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" she asked.

"'Cause she doesn't love me!" Timmy moaned. "She always ignores me, and Cosmo & Wanda's magic can't help me to make her love me!" He looked at Sammy suddenly. "Wait! Why do you want her to notice you anyway?"

Sammy paused, then said, "She's my cousin."

Timmy froze. _Trixie's related to an unpopular girl?_ he thought. "How do you know this, Sammy?" he asked.

Sammy smirked. "Well, I'd say my full name - Samantha Tang-Hope - is a pretty good sign. That, and Mom has always told me about her older sister, Beatrix. She's Trixie's mom," she added, noticing the puzzled look on Timmy's face.

Sammy decided a fuller explanation was needed. "My mom was a popular girl, but not as popular as Trixie's mom. When she was 16, and her sister was 22 and already married, she fell in love with my dad, Samuel Hope, and he fell in love with her. They secretly became boyfriend and girlfriend, and when Mom was 17, she got pregnant with me. When her parents - Trixie's grandparents - found out, she was disowned from the Tang family. Just a few months before I was born, Mom and Dad got married."

Timmy waited a second to process this into his ten-year-old brain. He felt bad for Sammy's mother, because she lost the popularity she once had, because of the love she had for Sammy's father. Timmy only hoped that perhaps things could get back to normal with Sammy's extended family.

"And when I found out you had fairies, Timmy, I decided to ask you if you could help," Sammy continued. "I figured that since we both want one thing - Trixie's attention - that we should combine our efforts, and our fairies, and work together to get it." She held out her hand. "Deal?"

Timmy took Sammy's hand, and they shook on it. "Deal! I'll ask Cosmo & Wanda about it!" And Timmy turned to leave, then noticed that he was still Timantha as he passed a mirror. "Uhh, could you wish me back into a boy?"

Sammy giggled slightly, then turned to Cindy. "Cindy, I wish Timmy was a boy again."

Cindy smiled, raised her wand, and in a POOF of pink smoke, Timmy was back to normal, and out of the girls' bathroom.

* * *

The school day over, Timmy walked with two old friends and two new friends to the bus. Rudy and Sammy had become fast friends with Chester and A.J., though Sammy was somewhat put-off when A.J. offered her a dead frog. But such setbacks aside, it looked like the beginnings of a lasting friendship.

Timmy and his quartet of friends were about to board the bus, when--

"TIMMY!" cried a hyperactive young girl down the street.

"Oh no," moaned Timmy as Tootie threw herself on him, practically kissing every bit of skin on him that wasn't covered. The attention of Timmy's four friends was concentrated on the odd event occuring before them, so they naturally didn't notice the pink-haired fairy behind them loading a Destiny Arrow into his trusty bow, aiming it at Rudy...

Timmy pushed Tootie off him. "Get away from me, Tootie! Don't make me re-instate the restraining order!"

"'Re-instate'?" Rudy repeated, as the pink-haired fairy behind them let the arrow fly.

Tootie began crying, her tears like waterfalls from her sorrow. "WAAHH! Why don't you love me the way I love you, Timmy?"

And it was in this moment that Rudy felt a tremendous pity for the bespectacled girl before him. She wanted so badly to be loved by a boy that seemed to shun her at every turn. Although he barely knew her, he had a feeling that Tootie's family life was miserable, and that she was truly in need of help. And in this moment Rudy realized the truth of his life:

He was in love.

And he wanted to help this girl.

Tootie was drowning in her own sorrow. Once more, her one true love had renounced her love like he was Cupid himself. And she could think of nothing better to do than to just stay there and bawl her eyes out. Suddenly, she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. Without thinking, she spun around and hugged/asphyxiated the person behind her.

"Oh Timmy! You _do_ love me! I knew it all along!"

"You're half-right. I'm not Timmy, I'm Rudy Reed."

Befuddled, Tootie looked up at the boy before her. It wasn't Timmy after all, but a redheaded boy she'd never seen before. She wrenched herself from his grip.

"Get away from me!" she yelled. "I'll only let Timmy touch me like that!"

"But Tootie--"

"Hey, mistake! _GET OVER HERE!_" came a voice from the street. It was the Victorsons' car, and Vicky and her parents were in it. Vicky's parents clearly were disturbed by how evil their eldest daughter was.

"You missed the bus while you fawned over that twerp!" Vicky snapped. "You're just lucky Mom and Dad were driving me to the Turners', or you'd have to walk home. Get in the car, _NOW_!"

Tootie was all too happy to do so; she'd rather have Timmy love her than some strange kid she just met on the corner. Besides, she was in no mood to deal with an angry Vicky. When Vicky was angry, you felt like you were staring down the muzzle of a flamethrower.

Because you were.

'Now DRIVE!" Vicky yelled at her father, once Tootie was in the car.

"Y-yes, Vicky, dear," stammered her father. And the Victorsons' car drove off, leaving a small redheaded boy behind in the dust.

* * *

This is how it feels to be Rudy Reed, right now:

You just stand there, not thinking about how you had missed the bus, nor about the fact that you will have to walk home from school, or about the fact that your parents will kill you for being home late the first day of new school. All you think about is one person:

Tootie.

To you, that person means everything.

You don't care about how her unattractive attributes are so repulsive to your new friend Timmy. You just know that these are as much a part of Tootie as your red hair is a part of you. They make her a fuller person in your eyes. And the inner beauty she possesses in such quantities is more radiant and attractive than any amount of physical beauty she could possess.

And you love her for it.

This is how it feels to be Rudy Reed, right now...

* * *

Cupid hovered there, satisfied with his work. Timmy was still madly in love with Trixie, and she with him. She continued to mask her true feelings with a resentment that, in reality, was directed inward. While it was a shame that Trixie was so disgusted with herself, he knew that she was bound to overcome this in the coming years.

Thanks to another Destiny Arrow, Rudy was now in love with Tootie. According to the spell that Cupid placed on this Destiny Arrow, Rudy would "love her with all his heart and soul, but would initially go unrequited. Over time, his compassion and love for her would crack her shell, and she would love him in return, and one day be his wife".

Yes. Things were going as planned.

* * *

(**Note:** Just out for the sake of knowing, although Rudy is an original character, Sammy technically isn't. She is a background character that appears in several episodes. A DeviantArtist named LimeLover did a few pictures of a particular background character, and dubbed her 'Samantha'. I felt the name fit her, and decided to use it. I thought she'd be a nice addition to this story.

Also, a little thing I noticed: Sammy refers to Trixie's mother, Beatrix, as her aunt. Yet she says that Tang was her mother's maiden name! Well, before people start screaming 'inbreeding', I'm gonna retcon this inadvertent error. The retcon that I'm going with is that Trixie's mom, while not bloodrelated to her dad, had the same last name as Trixie's dad. This also inadvertently explains why Trixie's full name, as stated in the Prologue, is Beatrix Tang II.

As always, read and review!)


	4. Chapter 3

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents or the characters herein. And judging from how things are going in the latest seasons, I don't think I'd want to. The characters I do own are Rudy Reed, Sammy Tang-Hope, Anti-Juandissimo, and the Master of Anti-Fairies, whose name will not be disclosed here. Not yet.)

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 3: A Relationship Repaired**

Wanda lay in her bed; Cosmo, her husband, slept in his car-bed beside her, still clutching the nickel Philip despite the fact that he was fast asleep.

Wanda relished these times when Cosmo was preoccupied, whether it be with cheese or monkeys or pudding, or even - Wanda gave an involuntary shrug at the thought - _other women_.

Wanda relished these times, because now she could think. She could think about a variety of things, but one thing that she was thinking more about these days was something very dear to her; something that had never left her mind in 9895 years; something that seemed to be falling through her fingers even now:

Her relationship with Cosmo.

_How could it have come to this? _Wanda thought. _I never stopped loving him in all these years since we said 'I do'._

Wanda loved Cosmo more than anything. And her love for him has changed her life; her life before she met Cosmo belonged to somebody else, someone who had no idea how fully life could be lived. Someone to be pitied.

Since Timmy had had Cosmo & Wanda as fairy godparents for barely over a year, his wishes had gotten more ambitious than Wanda had anticipated for someone of Timmy's age; being an energetic, imaginative ten-year-old boy has lead to a number of ambitious wishes, ranging from the understandable to the ludicrous. His wish to become a fairy (resulting in Cosmo & Wanda becoming human children themselves) was particularly off-the-wall.

But after some maturing, some increased self-confidence, and some realization that his wishes were having adverse effects on his or her fairy godparents, Timmy would give Cosmo & Wanda some time to think of each other rather than the quite strenuous wishes that would lead them to a premature breakup. Wanda knew he would; it happened with all the other godchildren before.

Till death do us part, she thought, and Wanda hoped to live up to that.

* * *

Wanda is thinking, who is truly at fault for their failing relationship? Is it Cosmo? Or herself? Perhaps maybe Timmy?

Wanda cannot pinpoint the cause to any one source, and she realizes that it is a combination of these that lead to the lack of reciprocated love from Cosmo.

It is Cosmo's inability to comprehend that the ambition of the wishes may be taking a toll on his treatment of Wanda. Then again, Cosmo seldom comprehends anything unless it is something related in some obscure way to cheese, monkeys, or kings of vaudeville.

It is Wanda's inability to tell Timmy to loosen up on the wishes. She loves Timmy as though he is her own child, and his disappointment is the second-to-last thing in the universe that she wants.

Cosmo's sadness is the absolute last thing she wants.

It is Timmy's inability to notice that his wishes are having such an effect on Cosmo & Wanda's loving relationship.

Storm clouds dwell over Cosmo & Wanda's relationship, where the weight jokes and the verbal abuse are thunder. There is no rain in the storm clouding Cosmo & Wanda's marriage; these raindrops are held back from the clouds that are Wanda's eyes. It is a storm with no lightning; Cosmo had never entertained the thought of striking Wanda, even when at the worst of his stressful periods. And though Wanda did occasionally strike Cosmo in anger, she regretted it immediately afterwards.

For she understands completely his plight. He is under stressful times, and stress is enough to clutter up anyone's mind. Considering that Cosmo's mind is as fragile as sugar glass, such stress must surely be unbearable. But he has never been this bad with other godchildren, and many of them had made worse wishes than Timmy even dared to dream.

Cosmo & Wanda are virtually one person; "two halves of a whole idiot", as they have called themselves once. They can understand exactly how the other feels, although they do not have the abilities of telepathy. Wanda can tell that he is being torn up inside by his constant verbal assaults on Wanda. So why does he do it? Why does he ogle other women, even her own twin sister? Wanda decides that she has to know soon; when Cosmo wakes up, she will ask.

* * *

No sooner did Wanda reach this decision than she heard someone stirring beside her. Cosmo sat up slowly; he placed Philip on the bedstand beside him as he stretched.

"Man, I slept good last night," Cosmo muttered as he ran a hand through his lime-green hair.

"I didn't. You snore too much," Wanda snapped. Cosmo whipped around, staring at Wanda with those eyes the color of his hair; eyes which were currently filled with confusion.

"Why'd you say that, Wanda?" he asked.

"Why do _you_ say that to me?" she retorted.

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you say bad things to me, Cosmo? Why do you ogle other women? Why do you hate me so?"

"I don't hate you, Wanda! Why would I hate you? I _love_ you, Wanda! I _need _you; I can't even clean my ears without you!" An oversized Q-tip appeared in Cosmo's hand, and he tapped it against the side of his head. "See? _My ear's not clean!_"

Wanda's heart hurt, and she began to regret bringing this up at all. Disappointing Timmy was the second-to-last thing in the universe she wanted to do; upsetting Cosmo was the absolute last thing she'd do. Still, she needed to know.

"Then why do you insult me all the time?" she asked again, but gentler this time.

"I don't know!" Cosmo screamed desperately.

"You don't know?" Wanda asked, sounding concerned.

"Whenever I say bad things about you, Wanda," he explained. "I feel like someone else is saying them. I don't even think of insulting you. I'd never hurt you on purpose, Wanda!" By this point, Cosmo was kneeling at the edge of Wanda's bed, restrained tears beginning to roll down his face. He reached out to her.

"I can't live without you, Wanda," he sniffled. Tears flowed freely from his eyes. As the storm clouds cleared, the rain began to pour; tears filled Wanda's eyes too.

"I love you, Wanda. I always have, and always will," he said.

Wanda looked down on Cosmo. She couldn't bear seeing her husband, the love of her life, so distressed; what was worse was the fact that she was the cause of his distress. So Wanda decided to do the only rational thing to do: she reached out, pulling him towards her, embracing him in a hug, a hug that he reciprocated.

"Oh, Cosmo, I love you too. I always have, and I know I always will," she responded, tears of joy now running down her face. Reluctantly, they broke apart. To comfort Cosmo further, Wanda raised her wand, and a chunk of cheese appeared between them.

"YAY! Cheese!" Cosmo cheered, devouring the dairy product in a matter of seconds. He looked at Wanda for a second, then raised his wand. Wanda half-expected another block of cheese to appear for her, and was startled when a heart-shaped box of chocolates appeared before her. Wanda's eyes sparkled.

"Oh, Cosmo, you _do_ care," Wanda said, her heart rising in her chest. But before she could even touch the chocolates, she saw something over Cosmo's shoulder: a pair of gleaming lime-green eyes. Exactly like Cosmo's. There was only one other person in the universe with those eyes...

"What are you doing here?" Wanda asked, distaste palpable in her voice.

Cosmo looked confused; was Wanda talking to him? Realizing that Wanda was looking over his shoulder, he turned and looked. He instantly understood Wanda's unpleasant tone...

Floating there, in the shadows, wearing a monocle over one eye, a dark-blue bowler hat atop his head, was the Anti-Fairy renegade, Anti-Cosmo.

* * *

This is an Anti-Fairy:

Every Fairy has an equal and opposite Anti-Fairy; whenever a Fairy is conceived, born, or created in other ways, an Anti-Fairy is born, and vice versa.

Every Anti-Fairy is the opposite of their Fairy counterpart; Anti-Cosmo is "not an idiot in absolutely every way"; his wife, Anti-Wanda, is an idiot and quite literally "eats with her feets"; Anti-Jorgen is small and easily frightened; Anti-Juandissimo, Anti-Wanda's ex-boyfriend, is modest, selfless, and low in self-esteem.

Anti-Fairies, unlike Fairies, are mischievous; they see nothing better to do than to bring bad luck to people every Friday the 13th, the only day that they can escape Anti-Fairy World, which is nothing more than a large containment cell in Fairy World. Anti-Cosmo was a fugitive when himself and Cosmo had to have a Fa Giggly Gland transplant; this organ allows a Fairy or Anti-Fairy to correctly transform into other objects or people.

Fortunately, he was abducted once more when he used Professor Calamitous, an evil scientist from another dimension, to let his fellow Anti-Fairies loose to halt the Earth's rotation on Friday the 13th; Jimmy Neutron, Calamitous' archrival, had utilized his Infinite Storage Cube, combined with a common butterfly net, to abduct the renegade Anti-Fairies. Unfortunately, his captivity was very brief; he had escaped yet again as Jorgen von Strangle attempted to deposit him back in Fairy World Maximum Security Prison.

And now, here, at this moment, he has entered Cosmo & Wanda McFae's household.

With ill intent.

* * *

"A jolly good morning, don't you agree?" Anti-Cosmo said as he floated into the light, his razor-sharp teeth glinting in the light.

"It would be jollier without you here, Anti-Cosmo," Wanda snapped.

"Yeah! What are you doing here?" Cosmo agreed.

Anti-Cosmo frowned. "Apparently, my welcome isn't as proper as I thought it would be. I thought that you, Wanda, would be fed up with this buffoon's poppycock and come floating to a more...educated bloke, and I find you two making up and on the verge of snogging the day away! It certainly takes the mickey out of my day."

Wanda's eyebrows lowered even further. "Why would I want your comfor--... wait. How do you know Cosmo has been mistreating me?"

Anti-Cosmo smirked evilly. "Don't you realize it yet, or is Cosmo's barmy nature rubbing off on you? Hmph. Very well. _I_ was making him do it! I'm quite proud of my achievement, if I do say so myself."

_So_ that's _why Cosmo was being so insensitive_, Wanda thought.

"But how? Why?" Wanda asked.

Anti-Cosmo smirked; apparently, he felt superior to them because of their ignorance. "It was a little magic spell the Master of Anti-Fairies invented in his brief few hours in existence: _Contrarotus_, it was called. Because of certain complications, myself and Anti-Wanda were unable to learn it directly from the Master. However, Anti-Juandissimo was kind enough to teach us how to use the _Contrarotus_. It allows an Anti-Fairy to control a Fairy's actions. One terrible downside, though, is that it requires part of the Anti-Fairy to be within the Fairy in question. However, such a bugger of a problem was quickly remedied." At this, Anti-Cosmo smirked even more broadly, and Wanda gasped.

"The Fa Giggly Gland transplant!" she exclaimed, pulling up Cosmo's shirt and revealing the star-shaped scar on Cosmo's stomach.

"Excellent deduction, Miss Wanda," Anti-Cosmo said.

"But _why_ did you do this?" Wanda asked.

Anti-Cosmo glared. "I find my wife's idiocy to be dead intolerable. That, and her lusting after Anti-Juandissimo has lead me to search for someone of less questionable intellect. Wanda, my dear, I assume that you tire, as I do, of cohabitating with an idiot... don't you?" An odd glimmer in his eye, he floated towards Wanda, who in turn floated away from him.

Cosmo would have none of this. He leapt up at Anti-Cosmo, who had his back turned, and tackled him to the ground.

"Don't touch my wife! Go touch yours!" Cosmo shouted, punching Anti-Cosmo in the nose.

"Geroff me, you mental bugger!" Anti-Cosmo yelled, blasting Cosmo off him with his wand. He raised his wand, which glowed with a dark light. "_Contrarotus!_"

"NO!" Wanda screamed. Cosmo suddenly went rigid.

Cosmo felt his control over himself slipping as Anti-Cosmo took over his body. Cosmo would not have it; he would not let Anti-Cosmo have Wanda. Wanda should not have to do what she didn't want to do. She loved Cosmo more than anything, and Cosmo returned these feelings. It went against the way of the universe to say otherwise.

Wanda was confused. Cosmo was quivering like he was caught in an earthquake, and Anti-Cosmo had a confused expression on his face. Cosmo gritted his teeth, a strained expression on his face.

Cosmo spoke in a strained tone. "I...won't...let...you...have...WANDA!"

Wanda gasped; a bright light emanated from the Fa Giggly scar on Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo's stomachs. Wanda shielded her eyes. Eventually, the light faded. Wanda lowered her arms; both Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo looked exactly the same, but the Contrarotus clearly wasn't affecting Cosmo; his gaze was focused, and he was smiling warmly at Wanda.

"Hmph. Impressive," said Anti-Cosmo, raising an eyebrow. "You threw off the _Contrarotus_. But do you think you can do it twice?" He raised his wand again. "_Contrarotus!_"

Nothing happened.

Anti-Cosmo glared, then said, more forcefully, "_Contrarotus!_"

Wanda was confused; if the spell did what Anti-Cosmo said, Cosmo should have been doing Anti-Cosmo's bidding by now. She poofed up X-ray vision goggles with her wand, looking at Cosmo's midsection. She gasped at what she saw.

"Anti-Cosmo's Fa Giggly Gland inside Cosmo is a Fairy's now!" she exclaimed.

Anti-Cosmo's eyes widened. "What? Give me those!" He snatched the goggles from Wanda and looked at Cosmo. She was right; Cosmo's, or rather, Anti-Cosmo's Fa Giggly Gland was somehow transformed into a Fairy's by Cosmo. Anti-Cosmo looked at his stomach with the goggles, and saw an Anti-Fairy's Fa Giggly Gland in his stomach.

Anti-Cosmo glared at Cosmo. "Poppycock! You bloody whelk, you've ruined my plans!" He raised his wand to blast Cosmo with a deadly spell, but a look of surprise crossed his face and he vanished in a puff of black smoke.

Cosmo fanned the smoke away with his hands. "Heh, good-bye to bad Anti-Fairies!"

Wanda agreed, "Tell me about it. I'm hoping that's the last we've heard of him! But who would've thought he was controlling you with his Fa Giggly Gland? ...Oh, that reminds me! Before the transplant, you had trouble changing shape. See if you can still change properly."

Cosmo raised his wand. "I'm gonna turn into my favorite animal!" In a puff of pink smoke, a monkey with green hair was standing in Cosmo's place. "YAY! Monkeys!"

And Cosmo sang:

"_I love the species that throws their own feces_!"

In another puff of pink smoke, Cosmo was back to normal. "But I love you more, Wanda."

Wanda put a hand to her face as she felt the blood rushing there. "Awww, sweetie!"

And they leapt into each other's arms, their lips and hearts met, and the universe became perfect.

The storm clouds had vanished.

* * *

This is how it feels to be Wanda, right now:

You love Cosmo more than anyone in the entire universe, and you let him know it. He loves you in the same way, and you know it.

You and Cosmo have been married for 9895 years, and that was nearly destroyed at the hands of a wayward Anti-Fairy. But Cosmo's undying, unconditional love for you put a stop to his plans.

You feel the happiest you've ever felt while serving as Timmy's fairy godmother. Cosmo is no longer the insensitive jerk that so much stress from such off-the-wall wishes has created. He is back to the sensitive, loving, caring, boy-in-a-man's-body that he was when you two first were assigned to Timmy.

You know that the kiss that you share with Cosmo is not infinite, but just a pause in the headlong rush of the universe, and you will have to face the future when it ends.

But you are not afraid; as long as Cosmo is beside you, you are not afraid.

This is how it feels to be Wanda, right now...

* * *

Anti-Cosmo appeared in a dark room he had never entered before. Confusion wrought on his face, he looked around for some familiar person or object. Finding none, he called out.

"Who brought me here?" he said. "What do you want?"

"Welcome, Anti-Cosmo," said a familiar voice. "Long time no see."

Anti-Cosmo froze. It couldn't be; he _couldn't_ be here! But then again, Anti-Cosmo didn't know where he was, so there was no reason the _Master of Anti-Fairies _couldn't be here.

Anti-Cosmo turned in the direction of the voice, and saw sitting in the shadow of a regal chair, a deeper shadow, a formless, inpenetrable, _sentient _shadow with glowing red eyes. Beside the chair, Anti-Cosmo saw, to his horror, a small human skeleton; the bucked teeth gave away its identity.

"Don't get excited, Anti-Cosmo," the shadow said. "It's only a clone of Timmy Turner. I tried possessing it, but it proved uncooperative, so I disposed of it."

"Master!" gasped Anti-Cosmo, who threw himself into a deep bow without hesitation.

"Rise, Anti-Cosmo," hissed the Master, and Anti-Cosmo obeyed.

"But Master, where are we?" asked Anti-Cosmo. "What happened to you? We thought you were dead!"

"Where are we, you ask?" the Master said. "We are in the basement of the Club 'We Hate Timmy' on the Unwish Island."

Anti-Cosmo was confused. He knew that Timmy Turner had so many unwished wishes that an island was needed to store all of them, unlike most godchildren, who needed a simple locker. What would the Master Anti-Fairy be doing on an island of unwished wishes?

"As for what happened, I was brought into existence by an errant wish of that punk Turner," explained the Master. "Months ago, he wished a fairy into existence, and, to balance the situation out, I was created as well. My prodigious magical control caught the attention of all Anti-Fairies, and I became known in no time at all for concocting spells, including the _Contrarotus_, in a heartbeat."

"That spell proved somewhat useful, when Cosmo and myself had to trade Fa Giggly Glands," Anti-Cosmo said.

"I know; I've been watching. An admirable plan, but inevitably doomed to failure. However, I commend your efforts to separate Timmy Turner's fairy godparents.

"Anyway, as you well know, I quickly became elected, by unanimous vote, the Master of All Anti-Fairies. I had barely wrapped up my inauguration speech, and revealed to you my master plan, when the unexpected happened: Timmy Turner unwished my fairy counterpart! Such unendurable pain cannot be described. I was ripped from my body, nearly forced into oblivion. It was only my incredible skill with magic, along with some spells of my own, that ensured my continued existence.

"And it was here that I came afterwards. No Fairy, Pixie, or Anti-Fairy, apart from you, knows of my continued existence. Not Jorgen. Not Cosmo or Wanda. Not even Timmy Turner himself. This ignorance from the enemy is perfect for my master plan."

Anti-Cosmo felt a twinge of fear; he had to tell the Master something rather offsetting. His fear was well-justified, as the Master was quite murderous when angered.

He had shown them that.

Personally.

"Master, I must tell you. The plan failed; Timothy and his new friends from another dimension--..."

"Spare me the details, Anti-Cosmo," the Master interrupted. "I have been watching. I appreciate your honesty, Anti-Cosmo, but you have no need to fear for your life. A perpetual Friday the 13th sounds rather dull to me now. I'd rather rule over all Existence anytime and anyday I please."

"You mean...?" Anti-Cosmo mumbled, suddenly feeling intimidated.

"Yes, I have already been formulating a _new_ master plan."

"A _new_ master plan, Master?"

"My ultimate plan to conquer the universe, purge it of all those who have fallen to corruption, and restore order to a conflict-ridden cosmos. Another objective of my plan is to eliminate Timmy Turner once and for all. I have barely enough strength as it is, but I've been clouding his mind with doubtful thoughts and images that regard Trixie Tang."

"That Asian girl whom he fancies?"

"He more than fancies her; he loves her, and she him. However, it is partly her inability to communicate this to anyone, partly my influence on her that keeps her from voicing her feelings for him.

"I recall once, when he wished for telepathy, that I blocked off his reading of Trixie's thoughts, and planted in thoughts that made Timmy think she thought of him in a derogatory manner. And just last night, I gave Timmy a nightmare that he wished that himself and Trixie were the last two people in the universe, and that she subsequently tried to kill him."

"By Jove, Master! You know that such a wish is against Da Rules of the Fairies," Anti-Cosmo said. "No Fairy can wish anyone out of existence."

"I know," the Master replied. "But I merely sought to wreck his love for her and derail the plans that Cupid secretly has in store for them."

"Speaking of against Da Rules, how did Timmy wish a Fairy, and an Anti-Fairy in the process, into and out of existence? Aren't such wishes against Da Rules?" asked Anti-Cosmo.

"You will understand one day, Anti-Cosmo," said the Master. "Trust me; one day, you will understand. For now, put that question out of your mind.

"Now, take me to Anti-Fairy World!" the Master ordered.

"Yes, my Master!" Anti-Cosmo saluted. Anti-Cosmo held his hand out to the shadow, which grasped Anti-Cosmo's arm with an icy-cold tendril. And Anti-Cosmo poofed both of them to Anti-Fairy World.

* * *

(**Note:** So Cosmo & Wanda are back together, and Anti-Cosmo found the Master Anti-Fairy (who is an original character) on Unwish Island. Who is this mysterious Master Anti-Fairy? And how does he relate to Timmy? Will Sammy get paired up with a FOP character, or a nobody? Will I stop asking stupid questions? We'll find out in due time.

So sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I am easily distracted by other things; I think I may have some sort of attention deficiency. I hate you, writer's-block! Also, I apologize for doing a sidetrack from the main story of Timmy and Trixie, but this is a necessary sidestory, one that will follow through to 'Fairly OddParents Next'.

This chapter was very difficult for me to write, and I think you can tell. I have no experience writing a way for C&W to mend their relationship, not having seen any of the newer episodes and only hearing of the latest things Cosmo has done on the Butch Hartman Message Boards. So I wrote it as best as I could, while trying to maintain the writing style used in the novelization of _Revenge of the Sith_. I hope this is good enough for you guys.

As always, you leave good reviews, and I'll leave good chapters! Death to the Remy/Trixie pairing!

**EDITED 1-19-06:** Following my viewing of the Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 2: When Nerds Collide, I had to rewrite some of the scenes with Anti-Cosmo in this chapter to reflect his mishaps in said crossover, while maintaining the storyline as seen in the original chapter.

**EDITED 2-11-06:** I went through this recently, and modified it to fit more closely with Matthew Stover's style, and clarified little things. In general, I upped the quality.)


	5. Chapter 4

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents or the characters herein. And judging from how things are going in the latest seasons, I don't think I'd want to. The characters I do own are Rudy Reed, Sammy Tang-Hope, Anti-Juandissimo, and the Master Anti-Fairy.)

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 4: Pacts and Cabals**

After an all-too-brief eternity, Cosmo & Wanda's kiss ended.

Wanda clung to Cosmo, just breathing in the love he had for her that she thought had long since died, and letting her love for him radiate like a supernova.

After some time had passed, Wanda found her voice again. "Oh, sweetie...I-I almost thought I lost you. I thought that..." She nearly choked on tears of mingled sadness and happiness. "...you didn't love me anymore."

"I may not be a smart Fairy, Wanda, but I know what love is," Cosmo said. "Because that's what I have for you."

Wanda smiled, wiping away her tears. "You always have a way of cheering me up, don't you, Cosmo?"

"Yep!" Cosmo said cheerfully. "Like that time when--?"

And in a _POOF!_ of pink smoke, a Fairy appeared in the room.

"AHHH! Pixie!" cried Cosmo, diving under the covers of his bed.

"_Hey!_ Is _he_ calling _me_ a _square_?" asked the Fairy, in a sing-song tone, who poofed into the room as Wanda floated over to Cosmo's crouched form.

"Just ignore that," Wanda said. "He just found out he was being mind-controlled by an Anti-Fairy, and he's kinda jumpy." She nudged Cosmo, who shuddered slightly. "Come on, Cosmo. It's just the Cupid to check on how things are going with Timmy's love life."

Cosmo slowly, but surely, clambored out from under the sheets, floating next to his wife and, without thinking about it, taking her hand.

"So, what's going on, Cupid?" Wanda asked, blushing slightly from the warmth of Cosmo's hand.

"I _just_ got _Toot_ie a_ groom_, _ev_en if she doesn't _know_ it yet," Cupid said. "_And _how are _things_ with you _two_?" he asked in the most serious tone he could muster.

"Well, Cosmo, as you know, wasn't exactly being very nice to me," Wanda explained, a dark look on her face. "I thought he didn't love me anymore, but just a minute ago, Anti-Cosmo came in. He was controlling Cosmo with a spell - _Contrarotus_, it was called - invented by the Master Anti-Fairy--..."

"_That_ twit?" Cupid interrupted. "I heard _stories_ about him from the _Fai_ry spies in _An_ti-_Fai_ry _World_; I _heard_ he could _teach_ an Anti-_Fai_ry a _new_ magic _spell_, but was al_rea_dy pre_occ_upied with cre_at_ing a _new_ spell. I _heard_ he could even use his _ma_gic to _cause_ instant _death_." Cupid shuddered at the very thought.

"Well, he's gone now, so we don't have to worry about him," Wanda continued. "Anyway, Anti-Cosmo, from what he said, is growing tired of Anti-Wanda's stupidity, so he planned to split us up, seduce me, dump Anti-Wanda, and marry _me_!"

"Yeah, but he couldn't control me, for some reason," Cosmo interjected.

"That's because Contrarotus needs a part of the Anti-Fairy to be inside the one the Anti-Fairy wants to control," Wanda explained.

"_So_...what?" Cupid asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo had to exchange Fa Giggly Glands not too long ago," Wanda said.

"_Lem_me guess: the _date_ he began saying _bad things_ about you coin_cides_ with the _day_ the _trans_plant oc_cured_?" Cupid asked.

"Exactly," Wanda said. "And Cosmo's love was so powerful that Anti-Cosmo's Fa Giggly Gland inside him became a Fairy's, and Cosmo's inside Anti-Cosmo became an Anti-Fairy's. And then, he anti-poofed away."

"He didn't look like he wanted to, though," Cosmo pointed out.

"He _pro_bably didn't want to _hang_ a_round_ you two _love_birds, since his _plan_ _failed_," Cupid suggested.

"Or someone _made_ him anti-poof away," Cosmo insisted.

"Cosmo," Wanda said, an admonishing look on her face. "You and I both know - from other Fairies, of course, since we never met him - that the only Anti-Fairy who would be powerful enough to do that would be the Master Anti-Fairy. And since he's dead and gone, I don't think he could have anti-poofed Anti-Cosmo away."

"_Anyway!_" Cupid called over their minor tiff. "_Now_ for the _rea_son I _came_: how is _Tim_my do_ing_? Did you give him a _cer_tain mes_sage_ from a _cer_tain a_non_ymous tip_ster_?"

Cosmo & Wanda glanced slyly at each other, and Wanda said in a tone dripping with false ignorance, "Yes, we gave it to him alright. But, gee, I wonder who_ever_ that anonymous tipster was?"

Wanda and Cupid exchanged knowing glances, then broke into hysterical laughter, though Cupid's laugh was noticeably louder.

"What? What's so funny?" Cosmo asked. "I didn't even do anything stupid!"

"You didn't have to, Cosmo!" Wanda smirked. "_Cupid_ is the anonymous tipster."

Cosmo just stared blankly at Wanda.

"Which means that he gave us the message to give to Timmy," Wanda prodded.

Cosmo continued staring at Wanda.

Wanda glared. "Which means he wants Timmy to be with Trixie."

It finally clicked for Cosmo; his eyes widened in understanding as he exclaimed, "Oh, I get it! He wants them to play Dominoes?"

Wanda shrugged; Cosmo would always be a kid at heart. "Sure; let's go with that."

"_Well_, _Tim_my should be gettin' back _soon_," Cupid said, looking at his heart-shaped wristwatch. "_Time_ for _me_ to _go_!"

"Good-bye, Cupid," said Wanda, as Cupid poofed away to... well, apparently, somewhere else.

Cupid was right; less than a minute later, the ten-year-old boy in his silly pink hat burst into the room, wearing an expression of excitement for some reason.

"Hey, guys! Guess what? Guess what?" Timmy asked excitedly.

"How was your day, Timmy?" Wanda asked.

"Apart from being ignored by Trixie and harassed by Crocker, it was _great_!" Timmy exclaimed. "I made a new friend, who's also a new student: Rudy Reed! I think he kinda likes Tootie, though." Timmy shuddered at the thought.

Cosmo & Wanda exchanged glances; Cupid had already told them this. "Anything else interesting happen to you today, Timmy?" Wanda asked.

"I met Trixie's long-lost, and unpopular, cousin, Sammy!"

"What?" Cosmo asked. Voicing what Wanda thought. "Trixie's related to someone unpopular?"

"Yep, and she has a Fairy Godparent!" Timmy continued. "And we're gonna work together to get Trixie's attention; I mean, five heads are better than three, right?"

"Well, yes," Wanda admitted.

"I think you mean 'four heads are better than two', Timmy," Cosmo said, knocking on his head, causing a hollow echo. "See? Nuttin' in my noggin!"

"Well, yeah," Timmy said. "But still, it helps that I got help from Sammy and her fairy godmother, Cindy. With this kinda help, wooing Trixie'll be no problem!"

* * *

Tad & Chad sat down on the floor of Trixie's room, looking at Veronica. After school, Trixie had invited her three "best friends" to visit her house for dinner. Now that dinner had passed, they had taken to chatting amongst themselves. Now, Trixie had just left to go to the bathroom, and Veronica had taken the opportunity to discuss with them a subject she had been anxious to discuss all day:

Trixie.

"Trixie's, like, been acting a little weird lately," said Veronica in her snooty Valley girl accent.

"I've noticed that, too," Tad said. "She hasn't shown as much interest in going to the mall as she did two years ago."

"Yeah," agreed Chad, removing his sunglasses to clean them off. "And she has stared at Turner exactly 0.82 seconds longer than she usually does today when she turned down his offer to sit next to him."

"She likes him," Veronica blurted out, her heart skipping a beat. If she could expose Trixie's love for Timmy and Trixie got shunned into the unpopular crowd, then _she_ could be Trixie, and Timmy would love _her_, and they'd grow up, get married, and have little blond-haired and buck-toothed kids. "I can _totally_ see it in her eyes, y'know? She wants him, and she doesn't care if she's popular or not, because she's _totally_ in love with him!"

After a tense silence, Tad & Chad nodded. "Yes, we know." "It's rather obvious."

Veronica started; this was unexpected. "Like, you two already knew? As _if_! Why is she, like, still popular?"

"We didn't inform her parents," Tad said coolly. "Or ours. She's our friend. We aren't gonna rat her out just because she has feelings for someone less popular. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that her mother would kill her, I'd give them our blessing right now."

"He isn't even a bad kid," Chad continued. "I'm sure that the only reason he's not already popular is because of his relationship to the Turners."

"That, and the pink clothes his parents bought him. I mean, did his parents even _hear_ of ultrasounds?"

"Yeah, I bet they were expecting a girl or something," Chad said, and the two popular boys gave a small chuckle.

"It's amazing that kids can sometimes pick up on thing quicker than some adults, huh?" Tad muttered.

"Yeah," Chad agreed. "Not to mention that no adults can see Trixie's feelings for Timmy, but we kids can see her love for him even if she has a look of hatred on her face."

"Umm, _hello_? Am I, like, invisible or something?" Veronica called, wearing a Trixie wig for some bizarre reason.

"Umm," Tad cleared his throat. "Veronica, why are you wearing a Trixie wig?"

"Don't call me Veronica," she cried. "Call me _Trixie_!"

Tad & Chad's faces and eyes grew dark. "So, let me guess: you like Turner too, don't you?" Tad asked.

"Do I like Timmy?" Veronica thought out loud, removing her Trixie wig and putting it in her purse. "Well, my love for him does burn with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns, but I can't let Tad & Chad know that!"

"Umm, hello? We're right here? We can hear every word you're saying?" Chad pointed out.

Veronica froze; she'd inadvertently exposed her feelings for Timmy. Now she'd be the one to lose her popularity, and she would never win Timmy's heart.

"I'm sorry, Veronica," Tad said darkly. "You're our friend and all, but I think you're a little too crazy for Timmy Turner's tastes."

"Yeah," Chad agreed. They heard footsteps coming down the hall to the room they sat in.

"Oh my gosh! Those sound like the _totally_ hip boots that Trixie wears all the time!" Veronica squealed.

"I don't even want to know how she can tell," Tad muttered to Chad.

"You won't tell Trixie what we discussed here, will you, Veronica?" Chad asked.

Veronica thought for a second, trying to think of a good excuse to say 'Why shouldn't I tell her?'. She would have, but she realized thattelling Trixie of their little discussion would most likely hamper her efforts to win Timmy's heart.

Veronica mumbled, "I won't tell her," but secretly thought as Trixie walked back into the room, _I will win Timmy's heart one day. Then, they will be sorry they ever called me crazy._

* * *

With an ANTI-POOF, Anti-Cosmo and the Master appeared in Anti-Fairy World. Looking back and forth in the emerald void, they noticed only floating hunks of earth and stone. Not an Anti-Fairy in sight.

"I still wonder why you wished to return here, Master," Anti-Cosmo said. "There are no Anti-Fairies for us to summon to your aid."

"It is better this way," the Master muttered, his glowing red eyes flaring angrily. "There were undoubtably spies hiding amongst the Anti-Fairies; the Fairies don't want to risk another Master rising up. After your little debacle with Calamitous, Jorgen von Strangle has decided to lock up the remaining Anti-Fairies at the Fairy World Maximum Security Prison, just in case this prison proved too easily broken out of.

"How did you escape afterwards, anyway? I am aware of how you escaped after your Fa Giggly Gland transplant - when you began using my Contrarotus spell to attempt to separate Cosmo & Wanda - but how did you escape when you were caught in that Infinite Storage Cube?"

"I was able to distract Jorgen," Anti-Cosmo said, his emerald eyes shining in reminiscence. "The other Anti-Fairies were panicking over the notion that they failed you, Master. I, however, remained calm and focused - unlike my idiotic Fairy counterpart in such a situation - and noticed a hole in the butterfly net. Poking my wand out, I simply spilled some salt on Jorgen's shoes - just as I had earlier that day - and he tripped. I managed to transform into a common rat, escape through the hole, and when I landed, I ran for it, resumed using Contrarotus on Cosmo-"

"And the rest is history," the Master finished. "But for now, I am in dire need of recuperation. My chair, Anti-Cosmo!"

"Y-yes, my Master," stammered Anti-Cosmo, raising his ebony wand. In a puff of black smoke, a regal red chair appeared. The Master's shadowy, amorphous form slinked onto the chair.

"Being in this form is a constant drain of energy, Anti-Cosmo. I'll need all the energy that is possible when I extend the hand of allegiance to the Pixies."

"But Master, what about the Anti-Fairies?" Anti-Cosmo asked. "What about...?" Anti-Cosmo felt the hot sting of tears in his eyes, and paused for a moment. "...Anti-Wanda?"

The Master gave Anti-Cosmo a confused look. "You still love her, Anti-Cosmo?"

Anti-Cosmo froze for a moment as he contemplated those words. His reasons for hesitation were these: to admit his undying love for his idiotic wife would mean admitting his plot to win Wanda's heart was invalid from the start. But Anti-Cosmo, humbled before the greatest Anti-Fairy of all time, said, "Yes. I still love her. I thought that being with Wanda would be really cricket, but... I don't know. I felt dirty, trying to intermingle with a Fairy. I dare say, a Fairy and an Anti-Fairy breeding doesn't sound natural, does it?" Tears of guilt and realization slid down his face. "Blimey... I've been a right prat, haven't I? My desire to be with an intellectual equal, and my taking Anti-Wanda for granted, has overshadowed how important she really is to me. I don't deserve Anti-Wanda."

"Anti-Cosmo, you should consider yourself blessed to be with Anti-Wanda," the Master said. "But does it really matter? Do you love her?"

"Yes?" Anti-Cosmo said, not sure what the Master was doing.

"And does she love you?"

"Well... I have on several occasions had to drag her away from Anti-Juandissimo."

"And when she isn't lusting over Anti-Juandissimo?"

"She... she's showing me, in her own imbecilic way, how much she loves me," Anti-Cosmo said. "Well, I must admit, Anti-Wanda has _one_ thing in common with her Fairy counterpart: they're both loyal to her beloved husband." And tears anew flowed from Anti-Cosmo's eyes. "Crikey, I've been an idiot lately. And I'm supposed to be not an idiot in absolutely every way."

"You are, but you have a tendency to over- or underanalyze a situation before acting," the Master said, in a voice that somehow, someway, wiped all of Anti-Cosmo's worries away.

"Now, Anti-Cosmo, the Anti-Fairies are by no means a lost cause. I will need to build up my power to disable the Poof Disabling System in place in Fairy World Maximum Security Prison. In the mean time, we shall gather new comrades: the Pixies. Perhaps other allies will present themselves in the future.

"Meanwhile, I'll need a rudimentary body to inhabit before I can achieve total restoration. Point your wand at me and say '_Ephemecorpus_'."

Anti-Cosmo slowly raised his wand at his Master. After a moment's hesitation, he cried:

"_Ephemecorpus!_"

A ball of blue light blasted from the end of his wand, striking the Master. For several moments, the light was too bright for Anti-Cosmo to look at; he had to shield his face from the searing light. When the light faded, he heard the Master say, "You can look now, Anti-Cosmo. I won't bite."

Anti-Cosmo lowered his arms and adjusted his monocle; sitting in the chair before him was a small, foot-high creature, like a cross between a bat and a fetus, with the blue skin of an Anti-Fairy. Its eyes - such horrid eyes - were terrible to behold; the left iris was black as night, the right iris was as white as bone, and the ordinarily-white sclera were as red as human blood.

Clearly, his eyes were very unlike his Fairy counterpart's. Whoever that was.

"Now, to summon the leaders of the Pixies, and extend them the hand of comradeship," said the Master, raising his hand, and an ebony wand like the Anti-Fairies' wands appeared in it. But it was different; it seemed to be composed of shadow made solid, and the star on the tip was reversed, so that two points pointed forwards.

In a puff of black smoke, two fairylike creatures appeared. One had a high, sloping forehead, white hair, and a bald patch on top of his head. He wore a pair of round glasses over dull-grey eyes. The other had jet-black hair, a box-shaped head, and a pair of sunglasses that completely obscured his eyes. Both had squared-off wings on their backs, and wore dull-grey business suits, grey, pointed caps, and dull expressions.

The black-haired one turned to his partner. "Where have we been pinged, HP?" he said in a monotone voice.

The one called 'HP' replied, in an identical voice, "I don't know, Sanderson. It must have been one of sufficient magical power to transport us against our will to a place we have never been."

"You two are in Anti-Fairy World," said the Master. "I, the Master of All Anti-Fairies, have brought you here."

The two Pixies looked at each other, eyebrows raised. After a moment, both began to laugh unemphatically.

Clearly, something was very funny to them.

"What's so amusing?" asked the Master, a tinge of anger in his voice.

"Do you, Anti-Cosmo, honestly think that you can make an infant Anti-Fairy pass for the _Master_ Anti-Fairy?" HP asked.

"This is worse than that time when you captured Smith, turned his skin blue, and claimed he was an _Anti_-Pixie," Sanderson said in his monotone voice. "Besides, this infant Anti-Fairy looks somewhat undeveloped. Is it yours?"

That did it. The Master raised his wand, cried "_Poenus!_" and the next thing anyone knew, Sanderson began shaking and twitching uncontrollably as an unemphatic scream escaped his lips.

"Tell me Sanderson: does it hurt?" asked the Master Anti-Fairy, his eyes wide with satisfaction.

"Yes-it-hurts," said Sanderson, his words blending into and out of his unending bored scream.

"You didn't sound sincere; I think you need some more... _PAIN_!" yelled the Master, making a violent swiping motion with his wand. Instantly, Sanderson's body bent double, his spine bending backwards into a completely unsafe and painful position. Yet, somehow, he remained alive _and_ conscious. It could only be imagined what kind of pain he was going through.

"Does it hurt, Sanderson? DOES IT HURT?" shrieked the Master Anti-Fairy. Sanderson began convulsing violently, as though invisible monsters were trying to tear him apart. At this moment, his Pixie self-restraint broke, and Sanderson let out a deafening shriek that did little to tell them of the amount of pain he was in. His sunglasses slid off, revealing his gray eyes, nearly bulging out of their sockets.

"_DOES IT HURT?_"

"YES! IT HURTS! STOP! _PLEASE!_"

The Master Anti-Fairy smiled malevolently.

"Now, that's better," said the Master Anti-Fairy as he lowered his wand. Sanderson returned to his original position. His face, previously frozen in an expression of pain and horror, returned to its original dull expression as he replaced his sunglasses. And from that day forward, if the Master Anti-Fairy ever raised his wand in Sanderson's direction, whether he was threatening him or not, or even if he was aiming at him or not, Sanderson would go to pieces, collapsing into a fetal position, a look of tremendous fear on his face, sucking his thumb.

"So you are the genuine Master Anti-Fairy?" HP asked.

"Yes, and I need your help," the Master said.

This time, there was no argument on the part of the Pixies; anyone who could make a Pixie lose his self-restraint was clearly someone you wouldn't want to cross.

Unless you had a death wish.

"Now, I have a plan, to cleanse the universe of corruption, and bring order and unity to all Existence. One who stands in my path is one Timmy Turner. I assume you are familiar with him?"

"Yes, we are," HP said. "Just at the start of the summer vacation, he thwarted our 37-year anti-fun plan to take over Fairy World."

"We had to pedal all the way home as punishment," Sanderson added.

"Well, this is your chance for revenge," said the Master, outstretching his left hand. "Join me, and we will destroy Turner and bring order to the universe!"

After pausing for a moment, HP floated forward and shook hands with the Master Anti-Fairy. He shuddered slightly; the Master's hand was cold to the touch. Still, it would be potentially fatal to react to it.

"Good," said the Master. "Now begins the struggle for a new era of peace in the history of the universe..."

The Pixies - and the Master Anti-Fairy, and Anti-Cosmo - grinned devilishly.

* * *

(**Note:** Whew! The Master Anti-Fairy is one tricky feller! He must really be powerful if he can make a Pixie act in a manner unbecoming of a Pixie.

This was not a difficult to write as the last chapter, but more frustrating; my sister kept bumping me off the computer to check her Myspace. I already know that 'Let me see my Myspace real quick' means 'Let me see my Myspace for 30-45 minutes' to my sister.

And to any readers who fear this will get to action-oriented, don't worry; any action elements of this will be few and far between, and exclusively related to the Master Anti-Fairy.

Speaking of which, I'd like to congratulate **Michael J.J** for figuring out the Master Anti-Fairy's true identity! If you think you know it, don't hesitate to PM me your guess. Don't post it in reviews; that will ruin the suspense for other readers.

As always, keep up the good reviews, and I'll keep up the good chapters!

**EDITED 1-7-06:** I noticed a timeline error; HP originally said 'last week', and that would place the events of 'School's Out: The Musical' in the week before Timmy first saw Rudy Reed _on the bus on the way to school!_ I changed it to 'Just at the start of the summer vacation', suggesting that Timmy's moved up one grade, and that this takes place in late September. Just to smooth things out!

**EDITED 1-19-06:** After watching the second 'Jimmy Timmy Power Hour', I had to edit the exchange on how Anti-Cosmo escaped, to reflect his captivity at the end of that particular special.)


	6. Chapter 5

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents or the characters herein. And judging from how things are going in the latest seasons, I don't think I'd want to. The characters I do own are Rudy Reed, Sammy Tang-Hope, Anti-Juandissimo, the Master Anti-Fairy, Samuel Hope, and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Tang-Hope.)

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 5: Trixie**

And so it was two years had passed since Timmy and Sammy first made the agreement to join forces to see if the combined intellect of three Fairies - well, two, since Cosmo has scarcely any intellect in the single brain cell in his empty head - could puzzle out a way to gain Trixie's love for Timmy and Trixie's familial attention for Sammy.

And in those two years, many things had changed: Timmy's parents had moved the family into a new house just down the street from the popular district. Timmy could now see Trixie's house from his window. And when he stared at it, he felt that if he stared hard enough, he'd be able to penetrate the iron-wrought fence and concrete walls and glass panes with just his vision to see through into the house, to see into Trixie's bedroom for the first time, to see _Trixie herself_, perfection given form.

Beauty given sentience.

Timmy himself had also changed; he had grown almost a foot since his 11th birthday, and he was now halfway between his height at ten and Trixie's, and had also grown a small mullet. He had also grown mentally; he had made much less ambitious wishes, and began to think out his situation beforehand, to prevent the off-the-wall wishes that had been such a frequent occurance at that time between 9 and 10.

Timmy had a feeling that, in another universe, in a very strange, bizarre, and screwed-up universe, that his misadventures would make a great TV series.

Cosmo & Wanda changed too, for the better; in just days after Timmy had given them that day off two years ago, they had become noticeably warmer towards each other. It amazed Timmy how much they had changed without his notice for almost half a year, and how Anti-Cosmo was behind the whole thing. Cosmo no longer made cracks about Wanda's weight or about his ignorance as to why he married her at all, and so Wanda never threatened him or struck him or even called him "brick-for-brains" or "moron" or "idiot", unless it was in an affectionate manner. They were now exactly as Timmy remembered them when they first became his fairy godparents. Timmy had taken to giving them some days to take a break, to be by themselves and to think of themselves, when he felt that his own life was fine as it was at that present moment.

That is, when Vicky isn't babysitting him.

Speaking of Vicky, she has just recently graduated from high school, and will be attending Dimmsdale Community College for the next four years, majoring in - Timmy was very surprised when he first heard this - Computer Programming. But this also comes as a source of relief to Timmy, as Vicky will be unable to babysit him as frequently, and his parents, sensing his growing maturity, will leave him alone at home for the night.

But some things in two years do stay the same; despite their efforts, Trixie has remained as indifferent to Timmy and Sammy as ever...

To their knowledge.

Not for lack of trying. If anything, the failures came from sudden and unexplainable amendments to Da Rules that even Jorgen von Strangle didn't want to explain.

"I mean it, I can not tell you two puny human children why I keep making these amendments to Da Rules!" he'd bellowed on many occasions. "Now go back home, while I count the bribe money Cupid gave me to make the ame--... I mean, uh, _All My Biceps_ is coming on! _LEAVE!_ Before I change Da Rules and make it so that Fairies _can_ destroy people!"

They were particularly eager to leave after that.

* * *

"I can't believe that wooing Trixie is such a problem!" Timmy said. He sat on a chair in Sammy's bedroom with Sammy sitting on her bed and Cosmo, Wanda, and Cindy floating nearby. Cindy read Da Rules, a frown on her face as she read a rather specific rule that had been added just five seconds before they had wished it.

"I know," Sammy agreed. "But who thought that wishing that she would pay attention to us, just because we have connections with her, was against Da Rules?"

"Yeah!" said Timmy, taking Da Rules from Sammy's fairy godmother, Cindy, who responded with an indignant "Hey!"

"I mean, look at this," Timmy said, gesturing for Sammy to read over his shoulder. "It says: 'No child is permitted to wish for the attention of any person or persons, especially if this person is a popular Asian girl, and _especially _not if either the child in question is a geeky unpopular boy who is madly in love with said popular Asian girl, or if the child is the popular Asian girl's long-lost and noticeably less popular cousin.' I mean, if that's not an annoyingly specific amendment to stop an equally specific wish, I don't know what is!"

"Aww, cheer up, Timmy," said Wanda, placing a warm hand on Timmy's shoulder and giving it a warm squeeze. "Sometimes, there are things Fairy magic can't control."

"Yeah, I kinda figured _that_ one out almost three years ago, when I wished that _I_ was a Fairy," Timmy said, smiling slightly. "Remember?"

"How could we forget _that_, Timmy?" Cosmo said, as insanely cheerfully as ever. "I haven't raided the cookie jar like that in 16,498 years!" Cosmo suddenly put a finger to his chin in thought. "Or is it 16,49_9_ years?"

"Yeah, and I could barely even become a fish so I could hide in the fishbowl," Timmy said. "I would like to be able to do _that_ more often!" These were all good memories, but they were not at the time. But now that Timmy had time to reflect on how slightly less mature he was then, he could sit back and take in almost all those memories with a wink.

Almost all.

"What I wouldn't like to do more often is have 'Just the Two of Us' nightmares about Trixie," Timmy remarked, a look of fear and of frustration on his face.

For since the night after Timmy defeated Vicky in TV and saved the world from her evil, he had been plagued by nightmares of himself and Trixie being, apart from Cosmo & Wanda, the last two people in the universe thanks to a wish that, thankfully, was against Da Rules in the real world.

Just the two of them.

Trixie going berserk and trying to kill him with a buzz saw and, when he managed to escape, with an oversized lawnmower, and then a helicopter.

She seemed quite disappointed when she found out that the missiles were sold separately.

But these nightmares were more than normal dreams; Timmy could feel the warmth of Trixie's hand in his in their rare moments of calmness and affection; he could feel his eardrums stretching as Trixie demanded _tell me I'm pretty_; he could feel the rumble of the helicopter's rotors in his chest as Trixie drove them down the wall towards his head.

These nightmares he had discussed with Cosmo, Wanda, and Sammy frequently; none of them could offer explanations for it. Eventually, they began referring to them as 'Just the Two of Us' nightmares.

It seemed oddly appropriate.

"Those dreams aren't going away, are they?" Sammy asked.

Timmy paled. "No; in fact, they're getting worse. Just last night, I tripped while Trixie was chasing me with the buzz saw, and..."

_And Trixie chopped me up_ were the words that died in Timmy's throat; however, Sammy, Cosmo, Wanda, and Cindy got the picture.

"I can't see how you could dream about something like that, Timmy," Wanda said. "Those dreams must be planted in your head by an outside source."

"But who, Wanda? Who'd want to send me dreams of Trixie trying to kill me?" Timmy asked.

"Well, it's either someone that wants to see you suffer, or someone who doesn't like Trixie at all," Wanda said.

"Or both," Cosmo suggested.

"And if it wasn't for the fact that Crocker has no magical powers, I'd think that he's behind this," Wanda said. "And since he doesn't, I think we can rule him out."

"And Vicky can be, too, even if she hates my guts... Hey! Could it be Anti-Cosmo?"

"I don't think so, sweetie," Wanda said. "I think he's fed up with plans of trying to keep two people apart after he failed at trying to get me and Cosmo to divorce."

"Yeah!" Cosmo agreed. "He should break his own wife out of jail if he wants one!"

"And... this Master Anti-Fairy I've heard some Fairies mention before?" Timmy asked.

"Dead," said Wanda flatly. "He disappeared around the time you wished you were a Fairy. Nothing left of him, apart from the master plan that Anti-Cosmo headed and that you and Jimmy beat back."

"The Master Anti-Fairy?" asked Cindy. "I think my Anry cousin, Mike, saw him once--..."

"Anry?" Timmy asked. "What's that?"

"It's the offspring of an Anti-Fairy mother and a Fairy father," Wanda explained.

"Ewww!" Timmy, Sammy, and Cosmo said.

"I know; not many Fairies like it either," Cindy said. "Anries look like Anti-Fairies, but since the Fairy magic and Anti-Fairy magic is balanced inside them, they don't need a Fairy - or Anti-Fairy - counterpart. Faities are the same way, but they are the offspring of a Fairy mother and an Anti-Fairy father, and look like Fairies."

"Y'know, my parents almost named me Mike," Timmy blurted out.

Everyone looked at him.

"Timmy, you gotta make a wish about that short attention span of yours," Wanda said.

"So, why are there Anti-Fairies in the first place? They're evil!" Timmy asked.

"You could call them a necessary evil," Cindy said. "You see, Fairies need Anti-Fairy counterparts to balance out the universe, and vice versa. So, whenever a Fairy is born, an Anti-Fairy is born, and vice versa. The same thing happens when a Fairy or Anti-Fairy dies.

"Anyway, my cousin Mike saw the Master Anti-Fairy once. Since he looks like an Anti-Fairy, he's one of Fairy World's spies who tries to find out the Anti-Fairies' plans, and keep the Fairies one step ahead in the game. When I asked who the Master Anti-Fairy looked like, Mike said the Master Anti-Fairy had some sort of spell cast over everyone there so that, even though they could hear his voice and see his face, they wouldn't be able to figure out his Fairy counterpart." Cindy smirked. "His Fairy counterpart must be a real idiot if he'll do that."

All five people in the room laughed this up.

"Well, one good thing comes of Trixie ignoring us," Timmy remarked.

"What?" Sammy asked. What good thing _could_ come from unrequited love?

"At least I know how Rudy feels," Timmy said. "He's been chasing Tootie around since he first laid eyes on her."

"Yeah, but doesn't he have more of a chance?" Sammy said. "I mean, he's unpopular like Tootie."

"Yeah, but he doesn't have Fairy Godparents," Timmy said. "At least, to my knowledge."

Knock. Knock. At the door.

With a trio of Poof's, Cosmo, Wanda, and Cindy disappeared to... well, apparently somewhere else.

"Dinner's ready, Sammy!" said Elizabeth, Sammy's mother, from the other side of the door.

"Okay, Mommy!" Sammy said, climbing down from her bed and walking across the room and opening the door. Her mother looked so much like what Trixie would look like in her late twenties, but with purple eyes. In fact, apart from the brown hair Sammy had inherited from her father, she looked like a miniature version of her mother.

"Will Timmy be staying for dinner, too, sweetheart?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, Mommy," Sammy said. "But I'll have to leave early, or I'll be late for my date with Chester."

"Sounds good, Sammy. I hope you have fun," said Elizabeth, walking down to the kitchen, followed by Timmy and Sammy.

* * *

"_Anries look like Anti-Fairies, but since the Fairy magic and Anti-Fairy magic is balanced inside them, they don't need a Fairy - or Anti-Fairy - counterpart,_" said the image hovering before the Master. "_Faities are the same way, but they--..._"

With a wave of his clawed hand and a twist of his broken mind, the image vanished.

A smirk crossed the Master's magically concealed face, his fangs glistening slightly.

"Anti-Cosmo," he hissed in his magically concealed voice, gesturing to the gentlemanly Anti-Fairy hovering beside his chair. "I think I have figured out a way to return to power without my Fairy counterpart returning as well..."

* * *

Trixie sat at the dinner table with her mother and father. As usual, her mother was more concentrated on her own reflection in her handheld mirror as she applied her lipstick and eyeshadow than on the dinner.

_She's more worried about herself than she is about me_, Trixie thought.

"What's the matter, Trixie?" her father, Nigel, asked.

Trixie sighed; how could she tell her father how dearly she wanted to be with Timmy Turner, when her mother, who was so absolutely consumed by popularity that she liked to pretend her own sister didn't exist because she chose love over fame, was sitting just down the table?

"Nothing, Dad," she said, spearing some filet mignon on her silver fork and bringing it into her mouth.

Nigel continued to watch his daughter concernedly. "You can talk about it with me if you want, Trixie," he said.

Trixie gave her father a soft look; at least _he_ was worried about her.

"Sorry, Dad," she said. "I can't tell you; it's personal stuff."

"You know, Trixie? That's the exact same thing your aunt said about that Hope moron," said Trixie's mother, Beatrix, looking up from her pocket mirror. She looked almost like a clown, with all the makeup on her face, but otherwise looked to be a premonition of what her daughter would look like as an adult.

"Wow, Mom. You actually know you have a sister?" Trixie said in a sarcastic tone.

"Of course I know that I have a sister, Trixie!" growled Beatrix. "What I know I _don't_ have is a sister who didn't get herself knocked up by some idiot from the middle class, and who didn't sacrifice fame and fortune for love, and who didn't break the family tradition of both of Dimmsdale's Tang families by marrying a non-Cantonese man! Nor do I have a daughter who will do whatever her mother says!"

"True love conquers all, Mom," Trixie countered. "Why can't you see that?"

"Because it _doesn't_!" Beatrix shouted, pounding her fist on the table. She was careful not the scratch her perfectly manicured and polished nails. "Having enough money to use as toilet paper - which is a _stupid_ use for money, by the way - and having everyone on the street being perfectly willing to kiss your butt is all you'll ever need! But you don't see that! If you don't stop now, you'll end up going the way of Lizzie Tang, and you'll bring shame to the Tang family for generations!"

"But maybe Aunt Lizzie was right--..."

"No, she _was_n't! She had delusions of grandeur, and if she had any common sense, she would have given up on Hope, or at least gotten an abortion when she had the chance!"

Trixie almost began to feel the hot sting of tears. "But Mom--..."

"Shut up, Trixie!" Beatrix shouted. "As of right now, you're grounded for a week! Now, go to your room; you're only coming out for school. The maid will leave your food at the door. Got it?"

"Yes, Mom," said Trixie, leaving the dinner table and her half-eaten dinner and walking out of the dining room.

Beatrix turned to Nigel.

"Am I pretty, Nigel?" she asked.

Nigel hesitated. "Well, uh--..."

Beatrix raised her fist at him. "Tell me I'm pretty!" she bellowed.

"Yes, you're pretty, dear!" Nigel said quickly.

Beatrix smiled. "There. Now I'm starting to feel better."

* * *

This is how it feels to be Trixie Tang, right now:

You don't want your family or your servants to see your tears. So, as you walk out of the dining room, you cover your face and begin to walk more quickly. And when you enter your room, you lock it securely, throw yourself on your bed, and let the tears flow.

Though you love Timmy Turner without reservation, you are still in the very core of your being a Tang. You love your mother, no matter how horrible you've been treated by her.

You are the culmination of the two Tang families that once existed in Dimmsdale. And when your parents married, two Tang families became one. You are the most popular girl in Dimmsdale, and you have boys practically swooning for you left and right, and you have enough wealth to put the Buxaplenties to shame, and your parents have enough influence on the Mayor to make their policy on popular and unpopular people law in Dimmsdale.

And you don't care at all.

Right now, you are miserable, and truly in need of help.

You can only remember one time when you felt this miserable: when your pet cats died when you were just nine.

Three years ago.

And even though you had them for almost a year beforehand, you can barely remember them.

All you can remember, for some bizarre reason, is a motherly voice that sounds more affectionate for you than your mother ever did:

_And don't forget: if you ever say 'I don't believe in Fairies' under_ any _circumstance, we'll have to go away forever, and you won't be allowed to have godparents anymore._

You can not make heads or tails of what that means, or even if it is an entirely fabricated voice. But what you do know is this:

Your cats died while you participated in a school production of the Disney film 'Return to Neverland'. You played Jane, who exclaimed her disbelief in fairies and nearly killed Tinkerbell with those words.

That night, your parents went to see 'Titanic: Director's Cut'.

Rising from your tearful position on your bed, you decide to visit your shrine.

Your shrine of aspirations towards truly living.

You enter your rather spacious closet, where you find the shrine. Here is where you enjoy your favorite comic books, action movies, and video games.

Space Wars. Skull Squisher. These have brought you much amusement and entertainment from the moment you first read them.

But you mustn't let your mother know you still have these; if she does, she will disown you for sure after today's argument.

You pass these up entirely as you head to the centerpiece of the shrine.

There it is.

The very reason for this shrine's existence.

The reason for your existence.

Timmy Turner.

A series of pictures of the boy you love but don't deserve in a shrine to shame Tootie's dominates the entire back wall of your closet. The photographers you hired to take these pictures may have been quite surprised at your interest in Timmy, but large sums of money silenced them. And if that didn't work, you had your bodyguard erase their memories of the incident at all.

You pray that your mother will not find this. She says that you are so much like your Aunt Lizzie that it is hardly funny.

You pray that one day, your mother will lighten up and welcome Aunt Lizzie and Sammy back into the family.

You pray that your mother will one day allow you to be with Timmy.

You pray that these events, if they happen, won't be signs of the Apocalypse.

This is how it feels to be Trixie Tang, right now...

* * *

(**Note:** Whew! This was a toughie to churn out. I just hope that it's up to quality. It's tough to do a lot of things that are meant to set up future events. Such questions pervade as: how specific should I get? Is this too specific? Will people be confused by this? But now that we're getting past the timeline of the normal FOP TV show (remember, Timmy's 12 at this point), things are naturally gonna get kinda crazy as the 'moment of truth' approaches.

And for those who may be thinking it, Rudy Reed does **not **have Fairy Godparents. Why not? Well, misery stemming from unrequited love shouldn't qualify for Fairy Godparents, considering Fairy magic cannot affect true love, right?

Also, the concept of half-Fairies and half-Anti-Fairies is not my idea, but so many people have already done it on the Internet that I had to include it. I based it on the concepts of ligers and tigons, but in this case, the resulting offspring, male or female, is a fertile as any normal Fairy or Anti-Fairy. I also invented the names Anry and Faiti. Don't think this is the last time this concept will be mentioned either.

Also, the return of the 'This is how it feels to be...' segments! Upon reading the _Revenge of the Sith_ novelization, I've come to realize there are only three in the whole novel, and all relate to Anakin Skywalker. So, I'm one-up on Matt Stover in this. Expect many more to pop up later on.

And I strongly encourage people to guess who the Master Anti-Fairy's Fairy counterpart is. Don't worry about being right or wrong; just roll the dice and guess. Michael J.J did just that, and he got it right. Take the Master's explanation of his near-death experience, and look at it from a different point of view. After all, Obi-Wan Kenobi once said: "You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

As usual, keep up the positive reviews, and I will keep writing good chapters! May the Force be with you all!

**EDITED 2-10-06:** After realizing certain aspects of this chapter were unnecessary, and therefore invalid in the context of this fanfiction, one or two little things have been altered or deleted. Also, while I encourage people to guess the Master Anti-Fairy's identity, I must insist that people PM or email me their guesses, and not post them in the reviews; in case your guess is right, I don't want it being spoiled for anyone.

**Edited 2-25-06** to clarify references to 'Just the Two of Us'.)


	7. Chapter 6

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents or the characters herein. And judging from how things have gone down in the last seasons, I don't think I'd want to. The characters I do own are Rudy Reed, Sammy Tang-Hope, Anti-Juandissimo, the Master Anti-Fairy, Samuel Hope, and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Tang-Hope.)

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 6: Explanations**

Anti-Cosmo observed his Master's activities warily. And from a distance. Between the Master's hands was a glowing sphere the size of a small cherry; Anti-Cosmo could sense tremendous heat from the sphere, and also sensed, with a thrill of trepidation, that it was preparing to expand. At an astonishing rate. "Master, what in the name of Bill Bixby are you doing?"

"I am gathering every spare element from the air that I can," the Master said. "Antimony. Arsenic. Aluminum. Selenium. Even elements that Harvard hasn't discovered. Every element that has ever existed is within this sphere of very hot, dense matter.

"I'm going to expand on this prison, and make it into a paradise. I hope to create a miniature universe within the confines of this cell. I want the space in here to be much more comfortable for my future Army of Anries."

"I say, Master," Anti-Cosmo looked fearful. "When that goes supercritical, won't we be destroyed in the ensuing blast?"

"This chair of mine is even now projecting a protective field around me and the chair itself," the Master explained. "When this sphere of matter mimics the Big Bang, the chair, and its inhabitants will be completely unharmed by the blast. I will then speed up time for this new universe so that millenia pass in milliseconds. It will be entirely habitable in less than five minutes."

"You never cease to amaze me, Master," Anti-Cosmo said in an appraising tone, though his face showed apprehension. "You think of everything. You are rather like that Neutron fellow; you are very intelligent, and you think things through before you act. I must say, that is quite unlike young Timothy."

"And you will not think along that train of thought any further, Anti-Cosmo," said the Master, a rather hypnotic tone to his voice, before Anti-Cosmo had even finished. And Anti-Cosmo knew the Master was being a reasonable fellow, asking Anti-Cosmo not to think about Timothy Turner's dull mind and short attention span, and didn't want to seem an unreasonable fellow himself, since the Master was very edgy about disloyalty, and he found himself replying in a dull, monotone voice that would have made the Pixies proud, "No, I will not think along that train of thought any further."

And it seemed perfectly reasonable to just turn inward, and reflect on the beauty of his Master's _new_ plan.

Carefully modified to include information so conveniently divulged by that half-breed Sammy's fairy godmother, Cindy.

The Master will use his prodigious magical skill to disable the Poof Disabling System in place over Fairy World Maximum Security Prison, and the Anti-Fairies would break out of the prison, and return to Anti-Fairy World.

_Or rather_, Anti-Cosmo thought, correcting himself, _Anti-Fairy _Universe.

_Antiverse._

The female Anti-Fairies will, upon the Master Anti-Fairy's command, surrender themselves to Fairy authority, with an Auto-Anti-Poofer, to automatically anti-poof themselves back to the Antiverse once they had achieved what the Master has in store.

Seduction of their male Fairy captors. And impregnation.

The Master Anti-Fairy will have an army of Anries for his usage in universal dominance.

And once the Master discovers the key to a successful transformation from a magically dark Anti-Fairy into a magically neutral Anry, he will share that secret with the Anti-Fairies, and will transform the Anti-Fairies into Anries.

They will be safe from the death of their Fairy counterparts.

From their Fairy counterparts' murders.

At their own hands.

Anti-Cosmo could clearly see in his mind's eye, a memory of something that didn't happen yet: himself pointing his ebony wand at Cosmo's throat, uttering two killing words: "_Verbus Mortus!_" and Cosmo falling to the ground in a heap of clattering bones.

_It isn't a matter of_ if, Anti-Cosmo thought sadistically. _It is a matter of _when.

And once the Fairies are eradicated, wiped from existence, the Master will track down his Fairy counterpart - "He still exists, Anti-Cosmo," the Master once said. "And I will convince him that just because we Anti-Fairies use dark magic, does not make us necessarily evil." - and lure him into their fold.

Perhaps transform him into a magically neutral Faiti.

His Fairy counterpart - whoever he is - will make a fine general of the Anry army.

And he, Anti-Cosmo, will be his Master's second-in-command, and successor, in his New Order that will one day engulf this and every universe:

The Anry Empire.

Anti-Cosmo felt his eyes misting over at the beauty of his Master's plan.

A plan that, unbeknownst to him, didn't truly exist.

* * *

Save for his projected outcome of peace in the universe, and his projected turning of his Fairy counterpart to their cause, everything the Master says of the new master plan to Anti-Cosmo is a lie.

A fabrication.

Not the true master plan.

It is a measure of the Master's intellect and mental acumen that he can concoct a grand total of three master plans in the span of three years.

Two within _one_ year.

The first master plan - get the Anti-Fairies released on Friday the 13th, halt the Earth's rotation, and reign over the terrorized earthlings forever - was foiled by Timmy Turner and Jimmy Neutron, and resulted in the capture of every Anti-Fairy and their imprisonment in Fairy World Maximum Security Prison. A strategical blunder if there ever was one.

But the Master changed his ways since; he has invested so much of his time in the past two years to studying not just ancient Anti-Fairy magic, but also the magic of Fairies and all aspects of their magical abilities.

It helps one to know how one's enemies work, so that one can find out what breaks them.

The second master plan - grow an Army of Anries, take over Fairy World, eradicate the Fairies, and create a New Order that will reign over the Universes forever - is false. A hoax. A superior plan to his last, but merely a distraction from his _third_ master plan. The mark of his treachery.

Treachery is his way.

The Master will not tell any of his allies - any Anti-Fairy, any Pixie, any Yugopotamian or Gigglepie or Yokian - of the true master plan. He does not need their fury, rancor, or hostility towards him once his true colors are revealed to distract him.

He only told one group of his allies of his true master plan. They are the only group he belongs in.

The only group he feels any kinship with.

Really, the only group he ever felt attached to:

Timmy Turner's unwished wishes on Unwish Island.

_They_ are his family, not the Anti-Fairies.

The Unwished, once informed of his nature as one of them and of his true identity and true master plan, rallied nearly unanimously behind him.

Nearly unanimously.

The unwished older brother of Timmy's, Tommy, proved unwilling to join an order bent on harming the one who he believed to be his little brother.

Fortunately, a well-placed _Verbus Mortus_ spell silenced any further protests from Timmy's faux bro.

And silenced any dissenters among the ranks.

They didn't want an enemy who could defy Da Rules and destroy a person utterly.

"We cannot have rebels in our cabal," he'd said. "We must be united under a single cause: to bring peace and order to a universe that betrayed us!"

The Unwished went wild.

Why is the Master so treacherous? Why is that he has no loyalty to anyone, save himself?

He was wished into existence by Timmy Turner, and Cosmo & Wanda created him.

And the Master loved Cosmo & Wanda for it.

He'd had a place saved for them in his first master plan: he would construct them a palace where Fairy World once stood. When so much bad luck and a perpetual Friday the 13th would cause it to crumble. He'd have come to visit them frequently.

He'd have treated them as the parents he never had.

And then, barely a day after they'd brought him into existence, he was nearly wished back out of existence.

He felt hurt, betrayed. His heart was broken by his "parents'" betrayal of him. His heart never mended; it _vanished_, and his ability to love disappeared. Why feel anything for anyone, when they can stab him in the back and leave him for dead? And it was since that day the Master felt that none should garner so much as his compassion.

Lest they stab him in the back.

_He'd_ stab _them_ in the back _first_.

Like when Cosmo & Wanda nearly wished him out of existence.

* * *

"Get into my chair, Anti-Cosmo," the Master said.

"Master?" Anti-Cosmo said, wiping the misting tears caused by the faux plan's beauty out of his eyes.

"This ball of densely packed matter is nearing supercritical," said the Master in perfect calm. "Enter the protective shield around my chair, now!"

"Yes, Master!" said Anti-Cosmo, flying into the shield around the chair, sitting beside the Master.

And it was in that moment that Anti-Cosmo realized that he could say he watched the birth of a universe.

That he once communed with a god.

That he floated in the near vicinity of a Big Bang and lived to tell the tale.

Anti-Cosmo shook his head as the Master raised his hands and began to gather magical energy, light and dark, to break the Poof Disabling System surrounding Fairy World Maximum Security Prison; as the embryo of a universe fled the force field, to speed towards some point several kilometers away, where the Second Big Bang would occur.

His future children would never believe him. Nor would his future grandchildren.

* * *

(_the following is a transcription of an entry in the Daily Crown as read by Sanderson to Timmy Turner and Cosmo & Wanda McFae; the Daily Crown has verified that the following article is unfortunately genuine_)

**MASS BREAKOUT FROM FAIRY WORLD MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON!**

In what may be the single greatest catastrophe in Fairy World history, the entire population of Anti-Fairies has escaped from Fairy World Maximum Security Prison, _writes Twinkle Flitter Glitter_.

"This is a terrible situation," said Chief of Security of Fairy World Maximum Security Prison/Commander-in-Chief of Fairy World, Jorgen von Strangle. "We must round up the Anti-Fairies, and punish them severely!"

The Anti-Fairies, as the reader knows well, are equal and opposite versions of Fairies. Every Fairy has an Anti-Fairy counterpart, and vice versa. And since our Anry spies' reports of a "Master Anti-Fairy" attempting to rally the Anti-Fairies and destroy civilization with perpetual bad luck, they've been imprisoned in Fairy World Maximum Security Prison, though they were temporarily transferred to the standard Fairy World Prison following the escape of Anti-Cosmo.

"Anti-Cosmo was undoubtably the smartest Anti-Fairy in the universe," says von Strangle. "Why wouldn't he be, with such an idiotic Fairy counterpart as Cosmo?"

Of course, following their mass breakout two years ago - which ended with all Anti-Fairies being imprisoned, and Anti-Cosmo escaping again - they were re-transferred back to Fairy World Maximum Security Prison. This breakout is even more spectacular, when one considers the fact that the Fairy World Maximum Security Prison has no emergency release button, and has a fool-proof Poof Disabling System.

"Suddenly, I heard an alarm go off," says one eyewitness, whose name is withheld. "I looked toward Fairy World Maximum Security Prison, and saw a big blue cloud of Anti-Fairies appear above it. There were so many, I could barely see the sun. I expected the Anti-Fairies to start causing bad luck all over the place, but they just flew into Fairy World Prison; they were probably heading to Anti-Fairy World. Then, Fairy World Prison just sprouted rockets, and blasted away, out of Fairy World. I hope those horrid creatures stay away from my Cosmo-lolo."

"Why did this have to happen on my shift?" whines Binky, Junior Security Officer at Fairy World Maximum Security Prison, and star of the TV show _Everybody Loves Binky_. "Jorgen's gonna _kill_ me for this!"

This is, again, a catastrophe greater than any in Fairy history, and rumors abound as to how the Anti-Fairies escaped a supposedly inescapable prison.

"I think the Master Anti-Fairy is behind this," says the eyewitness. "I don't care what Jorgen von Strangle says; I have a feeling that the Master Anti-Fairy managed to escape death and go into hiding, weak and helpless, on some backwater island."

The Master Anti-Fairy was possibly one of the greatest magical creatures of all time; his power could perhaps have rivaled Jorgen von Strangle. He was reported to have had supreme control over his magical abilities unmatched in history, and to have attempted spells that could prevent death. Clearly, these attempts failed, as he passed out of existence almost as quick as he was discovered. Attempts to locate him, and to discover his Fairy counterpart's identity, have long since been called off, since there is scant evidence pointing to his identity and no cooperative Anti-Fairies to interview.

As for the Anti-Fairies, Jorgen von Strangle has buffed up security at the Fairy World Maximum Security Prison again. He has not commented on how to recapture the Anti-Fairies at this stage, or what security enhancements have occured at Fairy World Maximum Security Prison.

(_transcription ends_)

* * *

In Timmy's room, Timmy spoke with his Fairy Godparents.

Timmy said, "Who'd have thought Chester could go out with a girl? I mean, they _do_ give him the hives."

"So, remind me, Timmy," Wanda asked. "How did AJ do it?"

"Well, he developed a secret formula," Timmy explained. "That keeps Chester from getting hives when girls get too close. He has to take it every ten minutes."

"And good thing, too!" said Wanda, her eyes shining. "They're such a cute couple!"

_PING!_

Sanderson the Pixie appeared in the room in a cloud of computer data, seeming entirely engrossed in the front page of the issue of the _Daily Crown_ that he was reading.

"Oh, hello Turner. Cosmo. Wanda," said Sanderson as though he hadn't even noticed them. He had a suppressed grin on his face. "Don't mind me; I'm just reading the paper. One of the few things in Fairy World that's just the way we Pixies like it: dull and gray."

"Get lost, Sanderson," Timmy said. "We don't need you making this day boring."

"Very well," said Sanderson. "I'll just get back to reading the paper." Sanderson cast a glance at the front cover; from the angle he was holding it, they couldn't see it, but it was clear he had come to boast about something. "Hmmm, this is interesting."

"What? Did you cone-domes try buying out Fairy World again?" Timmy asked. Bored out of his skull already. "'Cause I'm better at mini-golf now."

Sanderson ignored him. Or rather, pretended to. He was preparing his boast. He shuffled the paper, and grinned broadly, "It seems that there's been a mass breakout at Fairy World Maximum Security Prison today."

Blood of Fairy and human ran cold.

"WHAT?" Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda shouted, trying to reach the paper.

"I will read it for you," Sanderson said. He wanted to heighten their feeling of loss of control.

As per the Master's instructions.

So Sanderson read them the article in his slow, boring, droning, monotone voice.

By the end of it, Fairy and human had fallen asleep.

Sanderson frowned. He should have expected this. He pulled out his magical cell phone. With a rude _Ping!_, Fairy and human sat awake.

"The Anti-Fairies escaped? _Again?_" Timmy exclaimed.

"From _Fairy World Maximum Security Prison_?" Wanda exclaimed.

"Who was that nameless witness?" Cosmo asked.

How could _anybody_ escape from such a secure containment center as the Fairy World Maximum Security Prison? No one had done it before. Security there was insane; every single prisoner was given their own personal cell, to avoid communication of any kind and thus prevent any uprising. The prisoners never left their cells either; their nourishment - the junk they received could hardly be called food - was brought directly to their cells.

"Yes, I'm afraid that the Anti-Fairies have escaped from Fairy World Maximum Security Prison," Sanderson droned. "But how, I'm afraid that's for me to know, and you to _not_ find out."

"Why not?"

With those words, Sanderson's demeanor changed entirely. He suddenly had an aura of tension about him so palpable that even the air around him seemed nervous of something. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Uhhh, I-I am not at liberty to t-tell you anything," Sanderson stuttered. In his mind, he remembered a horrible voice crying "_Poenus!_" and indescribable pain ripping through his body, as though white-hot brands were touching every inch of his body.

Outside _and_ inside.

But that stutter changed everything. Something very wrong was happening in the universe if a Pixie that was normally very verbally acute and collected would actually stutter. Timmy didn't pick up on it; but Cosmo & Wanda did.

And it wasn't good.

"Is there something that's bothering you, Sanderson?" Wanda asked concernedly. Pixie or not, she still had to comfort someone when they needed it.

"Huh? No. Nothing's bothering me. See? Boring, boring, boring. Gray, gray, dull. Square heads and pointy caps. You'll pay when you're 47." Sanderson suddenly lost his Pixie stoicity, and seemed anxious on the verge of panic.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I know it's gonna kill me to say this," Timmy said. "But what's wrong, Sanderson?"

_Man, something's wrong: me, Timmy Turner, a good guy, comforting a Pixie, a_ bad _guy!_ Timmy thought. _What's going on here?_

"I-I-I-I-" Sanderson stammered. Finally, he shook his head rigorously, and his calm nature returned. "I repeat, I am not at liberty to say anything to you, even if I wanted to, which I don't. I can't tell you anything, or the Master will be furious."

Sanderson only just seemed to realize how much of a breach of the Master's trust he had just committed. Personally, he felt lucky that he was alive right now.

Cosmo gasped, "A Master Pixie? MP? What's this world come to?"

"No, Cosmo," Timmy said. "I think he means the Master Anti-Fairy."

"But that's impossible, Timmy!" Wanda replied. "The Master Anti-Fairy's _dead_!"

"No, he isn't," said Sanderson. Now that he had practically dug his own grave, he may as well build his coffin.

"The Master Anti-Fairy has evaded death with a number of spells of his invention. He now lives in Anti-Fairy World, plotting to take over the universe."

"_SANDERSON!_" yelled an oddly familiar, yet very unfamiliar voice that came from everywhere and nowhere. Timmy felt a peculiar chill.

Fairy, human, and _Pixie_ blood froze.

"Well, duty calls," Sanderson said, a slight quaver in his tone. "Don't be surprised if you don't see me again."

And Sanderson raised his magic cellphone, and departed for the Antiverse with a _Ping!_

"I've got to tell Jorgen about this," said Wanda, pulling out her own cell phone, and quickly dialing in a number. "Fairy World may be put under martial law after this, but it will be necessary with the return of an enemy of civilization itself!"

* * *

Anti-Cosmo hovered in awe over the Master's creation. Within the Master's creation. Over the surface of a planet, which orbitted a star, which itself wheeled in a galaxy like the Milky Way - all of which had, just hours ago, existed only as particles in the air.

He truly was in the presence of a god.

Just moments after the Antiverse had settled and expansion had slowed considerably, the entire population of Anti-Fairies had arrived from their captivity in Fairy World Maximum Security Prison. Upon sighting Anti-Wanda, Anti-Cosmo had flown up to her, embracing her, kissing her, and loving her as though he would vanish forevermore if he didn't.

Anti-Wanda may have been idiotic. She may have been able to eat with her feet. And she may have been a drain on Anti-Cosmo's credibility.

But she was also his wife, and Anti-Cosmo loved her more than anything.

"I'm so sorry, my beloved Anti-Wanda!" Anti-Cosmo had sobbed, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I have forgotten how dear you are to me! I have forgotten how much I love you!"

"Duuhh, what's you cryin' 'bout, sweetie?" Anti-Wanda had asked.

Anti-Cosmo felt his heart lift slightly; Anti-Wanda was stupid, and ill-mannered, and slouched frequently, and had teeth worse than British humans.

All of this was why Anti-Cosmo had fallen in love with her so, so long ago.

"Oh, nothing, my dim beloved," Anti-Cosmo had said. "Just something over your head involving attempted infidelity and breaking my sacred vows."

"Wow, that _is_ over mah head!" Anti-Wanda had replied.

Anti-Cosmo just laughed - not cackled, _laughed_ - and for the first time in as long as he could remember, he kissed her.

* * *

Tootie walked home from the candy store, a frown on her face. She had only gone to the store to buy some candy for her one true love, when all of a sudden...

Rudy Reed had to pop out of nowhere and try to kiss her. _Her!_ Dorothy Victorson, Timmy Turner's future wife!

"But Tootie," he'd said. "Can't you see how much I-"

That was as far as he got, before Tootie did something that would have made Timmy call Tootie hypocritical.

She gave Rudy a restraining order.

And now she approached the front door to her house, muttering to herself that one day she would make sure that Rudy Reed stay out of her face for just a few days so that she could actually concentrate on how to get Timmy to fall out of love with Trixie and in love with her.

"Hey, twerp!"

Tootie froze; it couldn't be. _Not now_, she thought. _I had a bad enough day with Timmy ignoring me and Rudy smothering me._

She looked, and there was her elder sister, Vicky, who was studying Computer Programming at Dimmsdale Community College.

Either she had the day off, or she was cutting class.

And Tootie knew her elder sister well enough to know which one.

"Look what I made in college with some technology I 'borrowed' from that Ibrahim kid!" said Vicky, holding up a small wedge-shaped android with smouldering pink eyes.

_I've got a bad feeling about this_, Tootie thought.

"I call it, the VK-100!" Vicky said, as the robot flew in a circle around her head, before settling over her shoulder and bobbing over it like some horrible parrot. "Neat, isn't it? And that's not all it can do. Watch this." She looked at the VK-100 on her shoulder. "VK-100, babysit."

VK-100's eyes gleamed ruby, as it repeated one of its many preprogrammed commands: "_Get to bed, twerp!_" And a small flamethrower poked out of a hole in its undercarriage. Tootie cringed; at this close proximity, she could get badly burned from a burst of fire.

The tiniest flicker of flame appeared on the tip, as if it was a warning.

Tootie cried out, turning back into the house, ignoring Vicky's laughter as the VK-100 returned to its position on her shoulder, barging past her parents, who were watching the western _Don't Let Jimmy Hear You_ on the TV, running up the stairs and into her room, throwing herself on her bed, and just letting the tears flow.

Someone up there clearly had it in for her.

* * *

This is how it feels to be Tootie, right now:

You finally can see what Timmy is going through when he gives you restraining orders.

You do not hate Rudy Reed; 'hate' is such a strong word, and can be misplaced very easily. Rather, you find him highly irritating, and sometimes you wish he could just lay off for a little while, so that you could actually get to know him.

Maybe the restraining order you just gave him will give him some time to think.

If he only knew why you reject his love, and instead cling to the vain and fading hope that you may perhaps claim Timmy's love and be the one who can make everything alright for him.

You remember your little black-haired brother, one year your junior, who Vicky had treated far worse than she treats Timmy.

Which is saying something.

Then, after Vicky hid a pornographic magazine in his room one too many times, Rudy Victorson ran away, never to return.

Just after Vicky had babysat Timmy for a whole year.

You love your little brother. And you will always miss him. His memory, which brings comfort and pain at once, is a reminder of just how low Vicky can sink.

Rudy Reed reminds you of this painful memory.

His red-orange hair reminds you only of one thing: the fiery-red hair that adorns Icky with a V's head.

Still, despite your personal reasons for distancing yourself from him, he is sort of cute. And he is a very nice person, and obviously would be much more receptive of your love.

But no. Your love belongs to Timmy, the one boy you feel entitled to be with. Trixie Tang does not deserve Timmy at all; she has shown no signs of reciprocation of his love at all since kindergarten.

Then again, she did kiss him once.

Only once.

Now that you finally see what Timmy goes through when you stalk him - you finally realize that is what you were doing - you decide to resort to more conventional means to earning his love.

Tomorrow, you are going to try and earn Timmy's friendship first.

One step at a time.

This is how it feels to be Tootie, right now...

* * *

After their kiss ended, Anti-Cosmo took Anti-Wanda's hand. Her eyes lit up, and Anti-Cosmo's heart sank.

_That can only mean one thing_, he thought.

"I would like to congratulate you on breaking us out, Anti-Cosmo," said Anti-Juandissimo, who Anti-Wanda was gazing at. He tried to ignore it. "I couldn't have done it, not being as powerful as you are."

"Well, I appreciate your kind words, Anti-Juandissimo," said Anti-Cosmo, covering Anti-Wanda's eyes. Her face went vacant. As usual. "But I didn't break you out of Fairy World Maximum Security Prison."

"But... who did then?" asked Anti-Juandissimo.

Anti-Cosmo didn't speak; instead, he gestured towards a lone red chair that stood in sharp contrat to the surrounding electric-blue grass, electric-blue trees, and electric-blue landscape.

The same color, Anti-Cosmo noted distantly, as Anti-Fairy skin.

In the chair sat a small creature that resembled a baby Anti-Fairy. But it was different; it had a stern look on its unrecognizable face that one wouldn't find on an infant. It also looked partly underdeveloped, as though it was born prematurely.

"What is that, Anti-Cosmo?" asked Anti-Juandissimo.

"I am the Master Anti-Fairy," said the infant, who suddenly looked quite angry, and shouted, "_SANDERSON!_"

Anti-Juandissimo jumped back several inches, and several other Anti-Fairies looked in his direction.

"What? I did nothing," said Anti-Juandissimo.

A Pixie appeared in a cloud of computer data with a _Ping!_

"Y-yes, Master?" said the Pixie.

"Sanderson, you revealed my continued existence to the Fairies," said the creature. Anger filled every syllable of his speech. "Do you have _any_ clue how big of a blunder you have just made?"

"I-I-I'm sorry, my Master," Sanderson stuttered. By now, many Anti-Fairies were watching this event with great interest; a Pixie? _Stuttering?_ While talking to a baby that was talking back?

"How many times must I do this, Sanderson?" asked the creature, raising a wand with a backwards star. Instantly, Sanderson collapsed to a fetal position on the ground, shivering violently, sucking his thumb.

The creature grinned.

"I didn't do anything, Sanderson, but it's good that you get the point." The creature lowered its wand. Sanderson continued to shudder on the ground; he then seemed to realize that the creature wasn't pointing his wand at him anymore, and he returned to the air, his neutral expression returned to his face.

"I am disappointed in you, Sanderson," said the creature. "I expect more reticence on your part from now on."

"Yes, Master of All Anti-Fairies," said Sanderson, raising his magic cellphone and vanishing with a _Ping!_

"Master?" said Anti-Juandissimo, his whole frame shaking with anticipation.

"Yes," said the Master. He continued in a magically magnified voice that drew every Anti-Fairy in existence to his location, to hear his tale. "I, the Master Anti-Fairy, have returned to you! Now, I shall reveal to you all where I have been, and what I am!"

And he told them. Though he would not be the Master Anti-Fairy if he did not omit certain details.

He did not tell them his Fairy counterpart's identity.

He did not tell them of his pact with the Unwished.

He did not tell them of his true master plan.

He told them of Timmy's wish that had inadvertently created him.

He told them of the unwishing that nearly eradicated him.

He told them of his feelings that the universe betrayed him.

He told them of the false master plan.

They fell for it.

_Such fools, these Anti-Fairies_, thought the Master.

* * *

Two Fairies speak over cellphones.

One with swirly pink hair, and the other with big bulging muscles.

They speak of the Master Anti-Fairy, who has returned from his supposed death and has been in contact with the Pixies. With another master plan to dominate the universe.

The muscular Fairy decides he will contact the Pixies about this. And if it turns out that the square-headed lackey of the Head Pixie is telling the truth, he and his bulging muscles will punish them severely for associating with an enemy of civilization.

The pink-haired Fairy asks the muscular Fairy what they should do.

The muscular Fairy decides that, until the crisis is resolved, Fairy World will be indefinitely locked down, and the rainbow bridge connecting Fairy World and Earth will be knocked down. No one Fairy or any creature from this or any universe will be able to get in or out of Fairy World until the muscular Fairy decides otherwise.

The pink-haired Fairy and her husband, along with every Fairy Godparent still on Earth, will be on their own for a while.

* * *

(**Note:** Wow, this took a while to write. This turned out to much longer than I first thought. Don't worry; the next chapter will get back to Trixie. Maybe. Could be the next. I could focus on Sammy and Chester a little next chapter. I won't be sure until I actually start writing it.

So Anti-Juandissimo is finally seen, after being referenced frequently. He didn't appear as much as I thought, but ah well, he has nothing much to do right now. Next chapter the focus will be going back to Timmy and his aspirations for being with Trixie. Hopefully Tootie, Veronica, and the Master, in their own separate attempts to keep them apart, won't succeed.

A few more hints about the Master's true identity. Just last night, I _finally_ saw the episode that inspired him to begin with. I even recorded it! If only Timmy knew the consequences of such an innocent wish...

Anyway, keep up the good reviews, so that I'll continue writing good chapters! May the Force be with you all!

**Update 2-13-06: **This just in! Two of my readers, **JusSonic** and **IwuvMyKenshyPoo**, who will be **Crazy Billie Joe Loving Freak** as of the end of the month, have correctly guessed the Master Anti-Fairy's identity. Good job, you two! As for everyone else, contact me either via PM or email with your guesses!

**Updated 2-16-06**, to include a scene with Tootie, as per the request of one of my reviewers.)


	8. Chapter 7

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents or the characters herein. And judging from how things have gone down in the last seasons, I don't think I'd want to. The characters I do own are Rudy Reed, Sammy Tang-Hope, Anti-Juandissimo, the Master Anti-Fairy, Samuel Hope, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Tang-Hope, Anti-Cupid, and Theobald Tang.)

**_HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
_by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 7: Tootie  
**

"If I may ask, Master," Anti-Cosmo said, turning towards the smallish creature in the chair. "Why are you so intent on preventing Timothy and Beatrix from becoming more than...whatever they are now?"

The Master frowned inwardly. _Why must he know every aspect of my supposed 'master plan'?_ he asked himself. _I suppose it would not hurt to give him a vague overview. To tell him too much would be to tell him too soon who I am_

What _I am._

"It is a matter of...self-preservation," the Master said. "Upon my, for lack of a better word, _exile_ to Unwish Island, I felt a premonition: Turner and Trixie's love would be key to my downfall. I knew there was nothing I could do to prevent this from happening in my weakened state, so I decided to much more insidiously drive a wedge into their love, poisoning it with doubt." In both its utterances, the Master spat the word 'love' as if it were a disgusting swear-word.

For all he cared, it was.

_Love hurts_, he snarled in his mind.

"But Master," Anti-Cosmo said. "No magic, not even Anti-Cupid's hate arrows, can interfere with--..."

"True love. I know," the Master interrupted. "It is not so much a Rule of the Fairies as it is a Law Of The Universe. No creature with any sort of magical powers - no Fairy or Anti-Fairy or Pixie, no Anry or Faiti, nor even any Ghost - can interfere with true love. While some, such as young McLain, can create a powerful obsession or infatuation at will, no creature with powers beyond the comprehension of others can actually fabricate true love. Save one: Cupid. As you so adequately put it, Anti-Cosmo, 'not even Anti-Cupid's hate arrows can interfere with true love'.

"I am not attempting to interfere with their love directly, Anti-Cosmo. I have not planted seeds of doubt into their minds; the seeds were already there. I am merely a gardener of these seeds of doubts; pruning them. Cultivating them. Helping them to grow strong. Impenetrable to outside forces. If these seeds did not exist, do you believe I would have been capable of projecting myself into Turner's mind as an avatar of an incredibly egotistical and vain Trixie bent on his destruction if not informed of - forgive my seeming lack of verbiage - _pretty _she is?"

"May I ask, Master, who do you prefer Timothy to be with?" Anti-Cosmo asked.

No one, he replied in his mind. He replied verbally, "If I could choose who Turner were to be with for the rest of his life, it would be Dorothy Victorson."

"You mean Tootie? The girl who fancies Timothy?" Anti-Cosmo asked.

"The one and the same. And by dispelling Turner and Trixie's love for each other and getting Turner and Tootie together would kill two birds with a single stone. I would, first and most importantly, be dispelling the danger of Turner & Trixie's love to my very existence. And secondly, I would be discrediting Cupid. You see, Turner & Tootie becoming a couple and living happily ever after would be the fulfillment of the stereotypical love triangle: An unpopular boy likes a popular girl and an unpopular girl likes the unpopular boy, but the popular girl hates the unpopular boy and the unpopular boy hates the unpopular girl, but in time the unpopular boy falls out of love with the popular girl and in love with the unpopular girl, and the unpopular boy & girl live happily ever after. It is a very common love triangle, to the point of cliché. Cupid would be ridiculed for a lack of originality, and he would no longer be trusted with love by his fellow Fairies. Although I am, unfortunately, not his Fairy counterpart, it would cause me great joy as well."

The Master knew Anti-Cosmo's question before he even asked it.

"You are rather ashamed of your Fairy counterpart, Master?"

_I greatly look forward to the day when your worth has expired, Anti-Cosmo._ "You could say that it couldn't be worse," the Master said. "And now, I have a very important task for you, Anti-Cosmo."

The Master could sense Anti-Cosmo's anxiety as his "most loyal and trusted advisor" straightened himself, standing militarily before his master, ready to sacrifice anything for his master.

Anything.

"What may I do for you, Master?" Anti-Cosmo asked.

"First, I must give this to you, Anti-Cosmo," said the Master, handing a peculiar pendant out to Anti-Cosmo.

"What is it, Master?"

_It is your first step towards death._ "It is a Temporal Talisman. It will keep you safe from Clockwork's time-warping abilities."

The Master could feel Anti-Cosmo's heart skip a beat, then beat against his ribs like a jackhammer at the mention of the ghost's name. "C-Clockwork? The ghost who can manipulate the very fabric of time?"

"Yes," answered the Master. "I need you to anti-poof to his lair, and fetch a thermos from his desktop. It is dented from the inside. Its contents will be vital to me once I've achieved resurrection. I'm counting on you, Anti-Cosmo."

"I understand, Master," said Anti-Cosmo. He placed the Temporal Talisman round his neck, raised his wand, and vanished in a puff of pale-blue smoke.

From that moment on, Antiverse belonged entirely to the nothingness itself.

* * *

Trixie sat before the vanity mirror her mother had received from her own mother. This mirror had been part of her family for generations before her. She sat there, brushing her silky black hair, practicing her Popular Face. She wiped her face of all emotion, just leaving an attentive blankness.

How she hated it.

And she had to wear it all the time.

_I don't deserve Timmy, and he doesn't deserve me_, she thought. _I'm always so horrible to him, and I'm never being honest with him. Why does he keep trying at all? It should be clear to him that we're not meant to be, no matter what we want. I'm too popular to be permitted to go steady with him; I wouldn't be surprised if Mom tried to get me into an arranged marriage with my own cousin Theobald just to keep the bloodline pure! ...Timmy deserves someone better than me. Tootie isn't afraid to let him know she loves him; she deserves him. At least she's honest._

Trixie heard her father, Nigel, knock on the door and say, "Trixie! I'm respecting your privacy by knocking but asserting my authority as your father by coming in anyway!" He then proceeded to open Trixie's door normally.

Trixie smiled. She could see that her mother had taught her father not to bash the door down with his parental battering ram again. Though doors are not expensive to replace, her mother was incensed when he bashed her door down two years previously.

_I don't think I'm having any little brothers or sisters_, she thought wryly.

"Trixie, your mother wants you downstairs," Nigel said. "She thinks you should to get to know your cousin Theobald better."

Trixie sighed. _How did I know this would happen?_ "Okay, Dad. I'll be down in a minute."

Trixie did indeed go downstairs a minute afterwards.

_Mom must be getting desperate, if she gonna marry me off to my first cousin_, she thought grimly. _I guess it's my lot in life. I'll lose Timmy to Tootie for sure._

* * *

Timmy was frustrated.

He thought that with the destruction of the the bridge between Fairy World and Earth, that Da Rules would not be enforced and that he would win Trixie's heart in a snap. However, it seemed that Jorgen von Strangle was still persistent with maintaining that the Fairies' rules and dogmas were strongly enforced even when he should have been focused on the Master Anti-Fairy.

_One good thing comes from this, though_, Timmy thought. _At least Cosmo & Wanda don't have to go in for training at Fairy World until this whole thing is--..._

His short attention span struck.

_Hey, it's Sammy!_

Sammy looked rather happy; she was skipping in Timmy's general direction, occasionally twirling on the spot. And when Timmy looked in her amethyst eyes, he saw a brilliant glimmer that he only saw in his own reflection's eyes when thinking of Trixie.

_She must have been thinking of Chester_, Timmy thought.

"What's up, Sammy?" Timmy asked.

Sammy started, as though she had just noticed Timmy was watching her.

As though she didn't know he was there.

"Oh, I just met Chester," she said, running her hand through her light-brown hair, and Timmy could almost hear what was coming before Sammy even said it.

"And he said that he loves me," she said dreamily.

Timmy was startled, but then a smile cracked his face.

"Well, I'm happy for you two," he said.

Sammy smiled. "I'm gald to hear that," she said. "Well, Chester's expecting me back, so don't be surprised if you hear that we kissed each other to death tomorrow."

Timmy chuckled as Sammy walked back to meet up with her love again.

The smile left Timmy's face.

Then Timmy felt his heart burn with an unusual feeling. A feeling that Sammy & Chester had something that he didn't. A feeling that he was lacking something that they shared. A feeling that something was missing in his life.

His heart burned with envy.

Jealousy.

He was happy for Sammy & Chester, no doubt about it. Two of his best friends in the world had confessed their love for one another. Still, Timmy couldn't help but feel unhappy about this. While Sammy & Chester were going on dates to the varying dining establishments in Dimmsdale, from the Cake 'n' Bacon to the Nasty Burger, and even to AdrenaLand, he, Timmy Turner, continued to struggle with winning the affection of Trixie, who seemed to be showing no signs of reciprocation whatsoever. It was very frustrating.

_Why can't I fall in love with an easy girl?_ Timmy thought angrilly.

And Timmy was swirling with such love and anger and apprehension and uncertainty that it took all of his self-control not to faint from hypertension when he noticed Tootie approaching him.

Great. Couldn't she give him some peace today, of all days?

But then Timmy noticed something off about Tootie. The casual observer who didn't know Tootie couldn't have seen it, but Timmy, who knew her well enough from all the glompings that he received from her that day in kindergarten seven years ago, could see it as clearly as though they were twins.

Self-restraint.

"Ummm... H-hi, T-Timmy," she said, her eye twitching slightly at restraining her affection for Timmy at such close range.

"Hi, Tootie," Timmy said curtly. Maybe he could make her go away by acting like he didn't care.

"We... never really had a good first impression, did we?"

Or not.

"No, we didn't," Timmy said coldly. He wouldn't normally treat Tootie _this_ coldly. But then again, Timmy assumed, anyone would be if they realized they were fighting an uphill battle to win the affections of someone who apparently doesn't feel that way.

Tootie, however, didn't seem fazed.

"I don't know if anything I say can help, but hear me out, Timmy, my l--... I mean, what do you think about wiping the slate clean, and starting over? From the beginning?

"As friends?"

Timmy was startled; Tootie was never one, in his opinion, to settle for less than his heart. Timmy tried to think like Tootie, and found it unnervingly easy. He was surprised to realize that he had never thought about their similiar predicaments before.

Tootie was rather like he was; she was struggling to win the affection of another, who was resisting her advances.

_Just like me and Trixie!_ Timmy thought.

Timmy felt like hitting himself. Now he felt incredibly guilty for his treatment of Tootie these past seven years. Pushing her away, and giving her restraining orders. That must have ripped at Tootie's soul.

_I suppose it couldn't hurt to be friends with her for a while_, he thought resignedly. Timmy took a deep breath, and uttered five words.

"Alright. Let's start over, Tootie," he said.

Tootie's face relaxed, as though a nagging, chronic pain had just ceased. Though she greeted him with silence, he was quite sure that she was thanking him in her mind.

* * *

This is how it feels to be Trixie Tang, for now:

You do not truly pay attention to your mother, or your father's brother's son - your cousin - Theobald, as she tells you of her intent to keep the family way pure by marrying you off to a close relative from outside the city and bribe the authorities to ignore the incestuous nature of this arranged marriage.

You don't _need_ to pay attention.

You know your mother well enough already.

It's not like this hasn't happened before, and been boasted about, in your mother's bloodline. Direct cousins were joined in arranged marriages countless times in your mother's family history, though your parents are not blood-related. Save through you.

While you ignore what is being forced into you by your mother, you instead think of a more pleasant subject. You think of the one source of light in the shadow that is your life, so full of fear and sadness and dishonesty. The one good thing in your life. The one thing you will undoubtably never be permitted to achieve - ironically enough, because of your high status.

You think of your love for Timmy Turner.

It is a puzzle to you; a puzzle for which you have no answers and cannot control.

You do not care.

Your love for him is an ever-burning candle that kindles your furnace-heart at even the mention of his name. It is a flower that blooms whenever you hear his voice.

And it is growing stronger.

With every denial of his love for the preservation of your popularity, the candle burns still brighter. Whenever you call him a 'loser' or a 'nerd' or 'not worthy', the flower grows still more beautiful and appealing.

In essence, your denial of your love for Timmy makes your love for him and of him grow still stronger.

And in the process, you must go to new lengths to feign ignorance and distaste for him.

Vicious circle.

And it is likely to go on forever.

Only two solutions present themselves to you: you can either keep your love for Timmy concealed for your life, let Theobald be your husband, let Tootie be Timmy's wife, and die keeping your love for him a secret, or you can confess your unrestrained, undying love for him and risk being ridiculed by the populace of Dimmsdale that loves you so and being disowned from your beloved family.

At this point, the first option is the ideal option.

You pray that perhaps, someday, the second option will be the ideal path to walk down.

But for now, you know that your love for Timmy becoming publically known is a risk you do not want to take. Besides, your mother would just as soon accept your love for him as you are likely to have had Fairy GodParents.

And you will live out the rest of your doomed life with a close relative as a husband.

This is how it feels to be Trixie Tang, for now.

* * *

(**Note:** Whew! I can't believe how long it's been. It's been... two months? Jeez! Where have I been? Actually, I've been hitching a ride aboard the Lazy Express, and then I had to scale the Writer's Block for the past two weeks. I swear I will try not to let it happen again. I'm quite certain that a few of you thought I was dead.

On a happier note, **ravengal** correctly guessed the Master Anti-Fairy's identity. _Weeks_ ago! I encourage people to guess his identity (via PM, of course; guessing in reviews is just a spoiler waiting to happen).

As for those who've paid attention to the Prologue, the 'Moment of Truth' (a term coined by **Behemoth**) is approaching. We're in for another time jump in the next chapter, and the 'Moment of Truth' is enough chapters away to be counted on a T-Rex's hand.

As per usual, I will keep churning out chapters if people continue to review this most recent chapter! May the Force be with you all!)


	9. Chapter 8

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents or the characters herein. And judging from how things have gone down in the last seasons, I don't think I'd want to. The characters I do own are Rudy Reed, Sammy Tang-Hope, Anti-Juandissimo, the Master Anti-Fairy, Samuel Hope, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Tang-Hope, Anti-Cupid, Theobald Tang, and Melody Victorson.)

**_HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
_by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 8: Eye of the Storm  
**

And so it was that three years passed since Timmy Turner agreed to become friends with Tootie Victorson, seeing no harm in having a friend who happens to be a girl, so long as they remain friends and so long as he continues to hold a candle for Trixie.

And in those three years, many things had changed. And many things stayed the same.

Timmy was fifteen, and stood just as tall as Trixie Tang did. He retained his mullet, but his face was beginning to show signs of puberty setting in. He had also matured greatly in the past three years as well; although he at first chose begrudgingly to be Tootie's friend, he now found himself seeing her as a true friend.

How could he have not seen what a nice person she was?

What he feared, was that he may have begun seeing her as more than a friend.

Though Tootie's friendship cast a new light on Timmy's life, a shadow continued to shroud his life in fear and confusion. The 'Just the Two of Us' nightmares continued to worsen, with Trixie Tang killing him in increasingly inhumane and violent ways. Chopping him into sushi with a buzz saw in one dream. Vaporizing him with missiles in another. Bludgeoning him to death with tennis ball and baseball machines in yet another. What made it all worse for Timmy, was that the dreams and Trixie's assaults continued even as she mutilated his body beyond the point when death would silence his pain and end his life.

Some unnatural force was causing these dreams for sure.

One good aspect of these nightmares, though, was that they made his misery bloom like a dark flower, and so too grew his need for fairy godparents.

Like Cosmo and Wanda.

Things had changed very little for Trixie, though. She continued to, out of fear of being disowned, denounce Timmy and her love for him. Meanwhile, her mother had planned for her marriage to Theobald to take place on her 16th birthday, which happens to be tomorrow. Her father would have done something in her aid, but his wife blackmailed him with divorce to enforce his reluctant consent.

Rudy continued his seemingly unending crusade to win Tootie's heart. And Tootie continued to spurn his affection, in the vain hope that Timmy would reciprocate her feelings someday soon.

What she didn't know, was that she had already subconsciously acknowledged him as a potential boyfriend.

Subconsciously.

But in spite of the monotony of the past three years, something most unusual had occured two years previously. Vicky had kidnapped local singing legend Chip Skylark, whom she was known to hold a fangirl crush for, and had done something that Chip, who was normally quite open, was quite unwilling to talk about even after he was rescued by Timmy - with some concealed help from Cosmo & Wanda, of course.

Nine months later, Melody Victorson was born.

When asked by her godson how that happened, Wanda had simply replied, "You'll find out in health class."

Vicky subsequently took her infant daughter - who possessed a sadistic streak to rival her mother's even at her very young age - to all of her babysitting jobs with Timmy. Just recently, Melody had learned her first word - said quite forcefully: "Bed!" Vicky would often have Timmy do all the less-than-desirable deeds of having a kid.

Such as, changing diapers.

Anti-Cosmo had returned with the thermos - which was indeed dented in various places, from the _inside_ - that the Master desired just minutes after departing. Anti-Wanda had not even noticed his disappearance. Upon receiving the thermos, the Master did not let it leave his sight.

"It was most unusual, Master," Anti-Cosmo had said. "Clockwork gave me no resistance whatsoever. He even handed me the thermos and waved me off without a word."

"Hmmm..." the Master had said in response.

Silence.

"Master, may I ask what is within that thermos?" Anti-Cosmo had asked warily.

The Master had replied slowly, deliberately, to the increasingly questioning Anti-Cosmo, "Within this thermos, Anti-Cosmo, is a phantom, ripped from its host, bent on death and destruction. However, he was prevented from bringing about his own birth when a foolish ghost-boy captured him in this device. He existed outside of time while he was in Clockwork's care. In time, this phantom will play a vital role in increasing my power."

"How, Master?" Anti-Cosmo had asked. The Master was a mystery to him, always giving him vague answers to specific questions. Anti-Cosmo knew it; the Master was hiding something from him.

And the other Anti-Fairies.

"Do not forget, Anti-Cosmo," the Master had warned. "That I am your Master, and I can determine when you are overstepping your bounds, and when you may be poofing into territory that is beyond your concern. And whether or not you are worthy of living anymore."

Anti-Cosmo had silenced himself then and there. He didn't want to anger the Master.

Just moments later, a black cloud of smoke had appeared about them. As it cleared, Anti-Cosmo had looked around, and had noticed that he and the Master were no longer in the middle of a field of blue grass, and the Master - who had still not returned to his full body and still resembled a rather underdeveloped, ugly Anti-Fairy baby - was no longer in a regal red chair.

They were in the throne room of a tremendous palace that towered into the stratosphere of the azure planet of Anti-Fairies. And the Master, still resembling a blue fetus with wings, sat in a nasty-looking obsidian throne. The wand he held in his hand now had a handgrip longer than the Master's current state.

"A more fitting home for the Master of All Anti-Fairies," he said. "And in a matter of time, the Master of All Existence."

And so things have passed for three years. Some changing, while others staying the same.

But everything would change on that one fateful day.

* * *

"Things almost feel like they're coming to a boil," Timmy muttered to Cosmo & Wanda in their fishbowl that morning.

"What do you mean, Timmy?" Wanda asked, giving her godson a concerned look.

Timmy paused.

"I don't know," he replied. "I just got the feeling that...everything that's happened is all coming to a head. I mean, Fairy World is practically at war with the Anti-Fairies - you two haven't even seen your families in three years - not to mention that my nightmares are getting worse. I can't even close my eyes for more than ten seconds without hearing a buzz saw engine and 'Am I pretty?'"

"Oh, sweetie, I know it's frustrating, but--..."

Timmy couldn't stop himself. In the blink of an eye, he was on his feet. "Gee, you think it's frustrating? The girl I love isn't giving me the time of day, my nightmares are getting more violent, my two best friends have been going steady for nearly four years now, my other best friend's practically graduated from college, not to mention that one of my other friends has been carrying a torch for me for almost ten years now and I think that I might be starting to like her instead of Trixie! Wow, I would have _never_ thought it was frustrating!"

Timmy froze at the stunned looks on his GodParents' faces, then put his head in his hands.

"Sorry, guys," he said. "I just can't stand all this stuff that's going down in my life."

"Don't sweat it, Timmy," said Cosmo cheerily. "We've been through worse."

"Cosmo's right, Timmy. Myself and Cosmo are thousands of years old, but that doesn't mean that we didn't go through the same thing when we were your age."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, remember Juandissimo Magnifico?"

"How could I for--... ohhh..."

Juandissimo was Wanda's old boyfriend. Perhaps it was his narcissistic tendencies, perhaps it was Wanda's sensitivity kicking in, or perhaps it was Cosmo's noticeable lack of a girlfriend. But in the end, Wanda dumped Juandissimo and she was with Cosmo ever since.

In Juandissimo's mind, she was denying herself... _everything_ by denying herself Juandissimo. He is known for describing himself as 'too sexy for my sexy'.

"So, which one of you was like me? I mean, the one who thought their love would go unrequited?"

Cosmo & Wanda smiled, and replied in unison, "Both of us."

Timmy smiled, happy for his godparents.

A light bulb went off in his head.

"I just had an idea, guys," he said. "Why don't we go visit Cupid and get a love arrow from him. That way, I can get Trixie to love me!"

"Well, we kinda can't, Timmy," Wanda said. "Fairy World's at a ceasefire with the Anti-Fairies. If either side attacks out of fear, all-out war will be the result. Jorgen doesn't want to risk any Fairies entering or leaving Fairy World, in case it sets off the Anti-Fairies."

"Ohh, right," said Timmy.

If Timmy still had the ability to read minds - an ability that gave him a terrible migraine and prompted his unwishing of it - he would have noted Wanda's relief that they couldn't go to Fairy World, or else she'd have to come up with some lame excuse as to why they couldn't see Cupid.

Then again, he _was_ the son of Butch & Tara Turner, so he'd probably say "Works for me" in response to whatever excuse they'd throw at him and leave it at that.

_Ohh, Trixie..._ he thought. _I know there's no way you could ever like someone as unpopular as me, or someone with as big teeth as me, but I want to be with you so much. What kind of monster would try to keep that from happening?_

* * *

"_Ev_erything is going ex_act_ly the _way_ it _should_," Cupid said as he watched the scene through a crystal ball in his castle, a smile on his face. "It's _on_ly a matter of _time_ before the _truth_ comes out. Not just for _Tim_my and _Tri_xie, but for when _Too_tie finally realizes that _Ru_dy is the _on_ly one who _tru_ly under_stands_ her."

Cupid frowned.

"_Still_, Timmy is de_pend_ing on _Cos_mo & _Wan_da to _help_ him with his _Tri_xie problem. They _had_ to have _told_ him a _million times_ that no _Fai_ry magic can affect true _love_. You'd _think_ that all the _very_ spe_ci_fic rules _Jor_gen made _thanks_ to some _gen_erous _bribes_ - not that he _need_ed them, since he _loves_ to make new _rules_ - would have made _Tim_my realize that _deep_ down, he _has_ the one thing that she wants _most_ from him, _with_ or with_out_ Fairies:

"_Himself._"

A brief pause.

"_Man_, I've _got_ta stop _talk_ing to my_self_," he muttered scratching the back of his head.

* * *

Anti-Cosmo shuddered involuntarily.

_I hope that Master didn't notice that_, the Master heard Anti-Cosmo thinking.

"What is it, Anti-Cosmo?" the Master hissed.

Anti-Cosmo froze in place. He sank to the floor of the Master's throne room, genuflecting before the Master. "Forgive me for my fear, Master. It's just... I'm not certain we can retrieve one of the objects you desire. Don't get me wrong, I want to see you return, and I could easily retrieve one from Jorgen von Strangle's personal collection - after all, he keeps the teeth of the Fairies he pounds with 'his bulging muscles' as a display of his strength - and any Anti-Fairy would gladly give their right hands for you, but--..."

"No worries, Anti-Cosmo," the Master said. "I have my ways of retrieving the final item required for my resurrection."

"And then, we shall know your real name, Master?"

"My name is... strictly on a need-to-know basis. Right now, you don't need to know, Anti-Cosmo. Or any Anti-Fairy at the moment, for that matter. Now, float along, Anti-Cosmo. I must meditate. I want to be in prime condition for my rebirth."

Anti-Cosmo looked dejected. The Master heard Anti-Cosmo thinking, _Oh, rat-poopy_, before he anti-poofed away in a cloud of pale-blue smoke.

_Yes, the time is near_, the Master thought darkly. _In time, my connection to that loser will be severed, and I will have no fear of passing from this realm should he perish._ A dark grin crossed his infantile features. _Then, his death at my hand is a mere 'Verbus Mortus' away. But first, I must collect three objects necessary to ensure me the in-between existence of an Anry: the bone of a Fairy (as Anti-Cosmo stated, teeth will suffice), the flesh of an Anti-Fairy (such fools they are)..._

_And the blood of my foolish Fairy counterpart._

The Master then waved his hand before his throne, and an image of that idiot Turner boy walking down the street appeared before him. On the other side of the street, the Master saw a certain teenage girl with large glasses, braces, and hair in pigtails.

_Looks like it's time for me to foil Cupid's plans for Turner and Tang_, he thought.

Without even raising his wand, a single word echoed in his mind:

_Contrarotus!_

* * *

Timmy never heard it coming. He was just walking down the street by, on the way to Chester's house to see if he could actually spend time with his best friend instead of just his girlfriend - a handy way of keeping Vicky from babysitting him and making _him_ babysit her daughter - and had just barely acknowledged that Tootie was walking down the opposite side of the street, right by Trixie's mansion, in the opposite direction that he was going, her head down so that she couldn't see him coming, when suddenly...

He was floating in paradise.

A voice spoke to him, a calm seductive voice that, by merely speaking at all, had already seized his cooperation. A voice that sounded eerily familiar.

But to Timmy, there was no _eerily familiar_. All he heard was his own innermost, most intimate, most internalized thoughts.

He heard his own voice.

**Approach her.**

Ignoring the feeling that approach was a big word for himself, he did as the voice said. If not, the world would degenerate into a nightmare world from which no escape could be found.

Timmy approached Tootie.

---

Tootie was walking down the street, trying to find some place she could avoid three specific people: her elder sister Vicky, her infant niece Melody - _I swear, Vicky said she was over Chip_, Tootie thought. _Then again, Vicky's words aren't worth the breath she uses to say them._ - and her admirer Rudy, when she spied the boy she truly loved approaching.

She gasped.

Something was wrong with Timmy - maybe it was the way the light was hitting his eyes; the cerulean-blue perfection of his eyes seemed somehow dimmer, and appeared to have a slight reddish tint. There were two explanations for this in Tootie's mind: either Timmy was crying about the fact that his chances of being with Trixie were nil...

Or it was just a trick of the light.

But that didn't explain the stolidity of his face.

Or the monotony of his voice.

"Hello, Tootie," he said.

Tootie said nothing. _Maybe he'll snap out of it_, she thought.

---

Timmy stood before Tootie.

**You know, you never realized how attractive she is**, the voice said. **Stroke her hair.**

"You know, I never realized how attractive you are," he said, stroking her hair. A small voice in the back of his head was screaming that he should never be this close - this intimately close - to anyone but Trixie.

Tootie started backing away.

"You're not Timmy," she said. "Timmy would prefer drooling over Trixie."

**Who is Trixie?**

"Who is Trixie?" he asked.

**Kiss her. Embrace her. _Love_ her.**

He kissed her. He embraced her. He _loved_ her. The small voice began screaming incoherent warnings of doom and failure and settling for less than what was desired.

**Tell her you love her.**

The small voice regained intelligibility, and gained strength.

"I..."

**Well?**

"I-I can't--..."

**TELL HER YOU LOVE HER! ASK HER OUT, YOU--...!**

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

---

Tootie was shocked. One moment the boy she loved was kissing her - kissing her with all the passion and commitment and _love_ that she had desired from him - and holding her as though she were his life support - or vice versa - then he pulled away, his left eye began twitching, and his arms and his legs and his whole frame began to shake as though he were waging some tremendous internal battle. Then he shouted,

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Tootie felt herself jumping back a few inches.

_What's going on?_ she thought.

Tootie looked at Timmy.

Timmy looked at Tootie.

Tootie noticed that his eyes were bright, cerulean-blue, and perfect once more.

"Tootie..." he said, his voice thick with emotion. "I'm sorry. I can't do this."

"Do what?"

"I can't... bring myself to go out with you."

Tootie glared.

"Don't get me wrong, though," he added hastily. "You're a good friend, and I trust you more than you think I do, but--..." He sighed. "Tootie, I just realized something...

"I really do love you."

Tootie's heart skipped a beat.

"But...it's more--...I see you more like the sister I never had."

"Re-really?" Tootie said, hot tears stinging her eyes.

"Yeah." Then he smiled. "Just hope I don't feel the same for Icky with a V."

They chuckled.

"Y'know, I was feeling that being with you - y'know, in a romantic way - was next to impossible for a few weeks now," Tootie said. "I guess I've been running on empty for too long."

"So, this was a bit of a wake-up call?"

"Mm-hmm," Tootie said. "...I suppose it's better to be a surrogate sister than to be a wannabe stalker."

"Yeah."

"...I had a little brother once," Tootie said.

"Really?" Timmy said. Then he remembered. "Ohhh..."

"He ran away from home after Vicky hid one too many porn magazines in his room," she explained. "He screamed that one day Vicky called up when she babysat you, and ran away in the middle of the night."

"What was his name?" Timmy asked.

A tense pause.

"Rudy," she said. Then, as if Timmy suspected something, "He had black hair."

"Ohh," he said, a glimmer of genuine concern in his eyes. Tootie could tell that he understood her reasons for not returning Rudy Reed's affection. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I just hope that wherever he is, he's okay."

"Well, keep on wishing, and you'll get what you want." His expression turned slightly sour. "I just hope it'll work like that for me and Trixie."

"Well, since I don't like you like that anymore, I wish you the best of luck."

Timmy nodded, his expression changeing to one of warmth and caring.

Then the surprise came.

Timmy hugged Tootie.

She stood there, stunned by Timmy's sudden display of affection - fraternal though it was, it was still startling. Tears rolling down her face and a small smile, she hugged him back, letting him know that, though her romantic feelings for him were now spent, she still saw him as a surrogate brother. A replacement for little Rudy Victorson.

_Oh, Rudy, I love you_, she thought. _Wherever you are,_ _I hope from the bottom of my heart that you found the love you truly deserve._ Tootie froze. _Am I thinking about my little brother..._

_Or about Rudy Reed?_

And Tootie realized the truth.

She loved them both.

With all her heart.

---

He meant it. Every word of it. He had found the basis for his feelings for Tootie, which were stronger than that of conventional friendship.

He loved Tootie.

Not as a potential romantic partner, but as the sister that he never had.

And he realized Tootie's reasons behind not returning Rudy's feelings: Rudy shared the same name as her lost little brother. Timmy could only imagine the pain that losing a sibling was for Tootie.

If it weren't for the difference in the nature of love, he would have assumed it would be like him losing Trixie.

Timmy pulled away from Tootie sharply.

"Timmy?" Tootie said.

Timmy didn't hear her. He had just processed a small, but crucial, fact regarding his attempts to gain Trixie's affection: although he had wished for everything he could think of to even get her to acknowledge him - from wishing he had everything the other popular kids had to wishing he was the "most wanted" kid on Earth to wishing he was the funniest kid on the planet - he had never, not once, relied on _himself_ to win her over.

"I gotta see Trixie, Tootie," he said, turning to look at Trixie's manor across the street. "I'll be back."

* * *

The Master's wrath at the fact that his _Contrarotus_ spell was thwarted completely by a pathetic human is believed to have been terrible to behold.

* * *

Trixie stood in her bedroom. She wore a white wedding dress that her mother was making her wear. It was necessary, her mother said, for her to look her best for the wedding.

_To my own cousin_, Trixie thought, sticking her tongue out in disgust.

She stood looking out the window, to look at where her beloved walked down the street. Tootie walked down the street on the opposite side. In the opposite direction.

_Timmy and Tootie. Tootie and Timmy_, she thought. _No matter which way I turn it, it sounds like it's meant to be for the two of them._

Suddenly, Trixie realized something.

_Wait a minute. I've been taking Timmy for granted. I assumed he would always be there, but he won't be after me forever. Sooner or later, he'll give in to anything Tootie wants, if he hasn't already, and then I'll truly have nothing. I can't give up on my last chance at having a true 'happily ever after' that easily. I've_ got _to tell him how I feel. Oh, Timmy, my love, I'm coming!_

She made for the door, but her mother came in uninvited.

_Oh, smoof_, Trixie thought. _Wait a minute! Where'd_ that _come from?_

"Oh, Trixie, you look absolutely ravishing," her mother said, her eyes sparkling. "Theobald will simply _adore_ you!"

"Really?" Trixie said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "Even though he's a close relative?"

Beatrix's expression changed as quickly as flicking a switch from 'on' to 'off.' "Close relative or not, and whether you _like_ it or not, you are going to marry him on your 16th birthday, and that's final!"

"Why? To keep outside influence out?" Trixie said acidly. "'Cause that's not a bad thing."

"Shut up, Trixie! As your mother, I have the right to tell you what to do, what to like, what to say--..."

"And how to eat, and how to drink, and how to breathe--..."

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOUNG LADY!" shrieked Beatrix, slapping her daughter across the face.

Trixie brought her hand up to the mark on her face. She didn't feel the pain.

If she was anything apart from dishonest, she considered herself numb to pain, after enduring it for ten nonstop years.

"How _dare_ you talk back to me like that!" Beatrix snarled. "I'm your _mother_! I carried you for nine months, fed you, clothed you, kept a roof over your head, and for _what_?" She growled frustratedly. "You so remind me of my sister sometimes..."

"Why? Because I can think for myself, and I'm not brainwashed by my wealth? At least I have an idea of what I want out of life, and it's not to be locked in an incestuous relationship."

Beatrix stood there, opening and closing her mouth dumbly. Her anger had left her almost speechless.

Almost.

"Just you wait, young lady!" her mother hissed after a minute or so of fumbling for words. "Theobald is due to arrive at any minute to see how stunning you are in the dress you will wear to your wedding to him tomorrow! Then, as soon as you two have returned from your honeymoon, you're grounded for--..."

Trixie never found out how long she would be grounded, because at that moment, there came from outside a dreadful squeal of tires, a scream of terror that was dreadfully familiar to Trixie, and a ghastly terrible noise.

* * *

(**Note:** Whoa, there's been some happenings in this chapter! And I leave it at an entirely inappropriate (for you) cliffhanger. But that's the only place I could find to leave one.

As for why Trixie didn't hear Timmy shouting 'GET OUT OF MY HEAD!', her mother shouted 'SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOUNG LADY!' at the same time. That's how it is.

I apologize greatly for the SUPER-long wait that some had to endure for this chapter.I swear, the next chapter will come up within a week. The next one I've been waiting _forever_ to write. It's also the chapter when I'll reveal the Master Anti-Fairy's true identity! So, anyone who'd like to throw caution to the winds and guess, do so now!

I'll give you a good follow-up whether or not this chapter gets good reviews! May the Force be with you all!)


	10. Chapter 9

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents or the characters herein. And judging from how things have gone down in the last seasons, I don't think I'd want to. The characters I do own are Rudy Reed, Sammy Tang-Hope, Anti-Juandissimo, the Master Anti-Fairy, Samuel Hope, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Tang-Hope, Anti-Cupid, Theobald Tang, and Melody Victorson.)

**_HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
_by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 9: The Moment of Truth  
**

When it comes to creating the perfect love triangle - apart from the kind that is so often considered to be a cliché - there are certain elements that are essential for the ideal outcome.

The first necessary aspect are the three required dramatis personae for it to genuinely be considered a love _triangle_. Three children, a popular girl with no siblings but everything money can buy who yearns to join the unpopular crowd, but fears separation from her family, an unpopular boy with a sensitive demeanor, little wealth, and no brothers or sisters, and an unrelated unpopular girl who is true to her feelings - with a sadistic older sister - are ideal components of the perfect love triangle.

The second necessary aspect is the right distribution of love, denial, and repulsion. Ideally, the popular girl should hide her love for the unpopular boy behind a veil of indifference and a lack of care, and the unpopular boy will vie persistently for her affection, while trying to evade the affection of the unpopular girl. Ideally, the unpopular boy must have Fairy GodParents, though not necessarily the popular or unpopular girl.

The third necessary aspect is an ideal outcome for all in the triangle. The unpopular girl may not win the heart of the unpopular boy, but that doesn't mean she should sever all ties to him. Ideally, she should develop a sisterly bond with him, and perhaps develop romantic feelings for a boy outside the love triangle who has affection for her.

The Trixie-Timmy-Tootie love triangle is a textbook example of the perfect love triangle.

* * *

It was all a blur to Trixie. One moment she was standing at her bedroom window, staring down in horror at the scene outside, and the next thing she knew, she was running across the lawn towards the accident, still in the wedding dress.

Tootie was kneeling over Timmy, a look of utmost horror on her face. Trixie's father was standing to the side, frantically speaking to a shaking Theobald, who was explaining what had happened in a somewhat distant manner:

"I was driving down the street, minding my own business, when this kid runs in front of my car. I saw pink smoke, and somehow he ended up ten feet away. He looks like he's been hurt pretty bad, but he's unpopular... It's not too big a deal. Just give the family a few hundred grand, and they'll keep their lawsuits to themselves."

Trixie had one moment to numbly register, despite being from her father's side of the family, how influenced by her mother Theobald was...

Then she lost it.

Trixie ran up to the broken Timmy, all inhibitions gone. Tears flowed freely down her face as wails of despair escaped her lips. The walls surrounding her furnace-heart dissolved, letting her feelings for the boy who lay broken flow forth like a river demolishing the dam that held it back. A thousand unorganized thoughts flooded her mind all at once.

_It's all my fault. If I'd told him sooner..._

_Don't leave me!_

_If I wasn't so selfish..._

_Oh God, don't let him die..._

_He wouldn't be like this..._

_If I'd told him at all..._

_I love him..._

_I_ need _him!_

_I deserve this suffering..._

_I hate myself..._

Trixie knelt down over Timmy's body. He had a bad scrape on his side, allowing blood to seep out onto the sidewalk, and his right leg was bent unnaturally. Broken. He wasn't moving.

_He's dead_, she thought glumly. _I guess that's my lot in life._

---

Cosmo & Wanda hovered over Timmy, Trixie, and Tootie, disguised as gnats. They sighed in relief. They intended to poof Timmy away before the limo even touched him, but they arrived to see 'the magic moment' one moment too late. If they'd been just a moment earlier, he'd have made it out unscathed, his and Trixie's love would have been laid bare, and Cosmo & Wanda would have surprised Timmy with a new rule that Jorgen had just put into Da Rules.

At Cupid's request, of course.

_I hope he makes it through_, Wanda thought, noticing that while Theobald was standing at a distance, Nigel was actually pulling out a cell phone and dialing 9-1-1.

Dimmsdale Hospital was just a few blocks away.

Cosmo & Wanda smiled.

"Looks like he'll make it through, honey," Cosmo said.

---

Trixie looked up at Tootie. "What happened?" she asked.

Tootie cast a cold look at Theobald. "Don't listen to him," she said. "He's stretching the truth to make Timmy seem like the one who wasn't watching where he was going."

"Theobald drove into Timmy, didn't he?" Trixie asked, aghast.

"You know him?"

"He's my cousin... and, thanks to my mother, my fiancé."

"I have two words for that: 'eww' and 'sick'!"

"I know. Mom wants to keep outside influence out. ...So, what happened?"

"Well, Theobald - is that his name? - was just driving down the street. Timmy was running to your house. Theobald was driving slowly - I think he was going to pull over - then he swerved towards Timmy, driving like he was possessed or something. Then, just after he hit Timmy, the strangest thing happened. He was surrounded by pink smoke, and reappeared right here. Whatever happened saved him from the worst of it, but he looks pretty bad." As she explained it to Trixie, tears began to roll down Tootie's face, and her voice began to crack.

"He's not dead?" Trixie asked. She hardly cared that her voice was cracking from the grief she felt.

"No, but he's bleeding pretty badly," Tootie sniffled. "If an ambulance doesn't come soon, he won't live to see another day."

No sooner did she say that than they heard a siren blaring from down the street and a ragged coughing coming from Timmy. Tootie looked down at him again, and gasped softly.

"Trixie, look! He's waking up!"

Trixie looked down at Timmy, but her vision was blurry. For an iota of a second she thought she needed glasses, but it soon hit Trixie like the car that did Timmy. The haze of tears of grief of the accident and joy of his survival kept Trixie from seeing anything clearly; she cleared them away.

Timmy's eyes were opening.

Those eyes.

Those beautiful blue eyes...

They still held that sparkle of life.

But for how long?

* * *

In a location very alien to Timmy - and yet, somehow, strangely, much more hotly intimate and personal than even his bedroom - Timmy looked back and forth in bemusement.

_Where am I?_ he thought. He remembered the impulse to tell Trixie how his love for her burned with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns, the limousine that hurtled towards him, the terror he felt, the horror of never seeing Trixie's face again...

When he suddenly appeared here. In this realm where black was white, white was black, and where he was alone.

Completely, totally, uncompromisingly alone.

**You are in your head, Turner.**

Timmy froze.

_Oh, great. So I'm_ not _alone._

As he turned, the nothingness around him dissolved away. Beneath his feet appeared the asphalt of a parking lot. Before him, a large store appeared that made his blood turn to ice.

The Wall-2-Wall Mart.

_But if I'm not awake..._

There was only one time when Timmy saw the Wall-2-Wall Mart while having dreams.

In his 'Just the Two of Us' nightmares.

It was the place where everything went wrong. When he somehow felt the urge to break up with Trixie, after spending six hours being the only human being left, apart from her, on the planet, and therefore her boyfriend. When she was overcome with the urge to see his head separated from his body. To see every atom of his existence torn from each other forever.

**Do what your name indicates, and turn, Turner**, said his voice.

Slowly, reluctantly, with the same caution one would exhibit with disarming a bomb that could annihilate the planet itself, Timmy turned.

He saw Trixie.

But it wasn't Trixie.

Now, he saw it. Somehow, the being that was putting these nightmares in his head was beginning to reveal its true colors. Maybe it was the crimson gleam in the eyes, or the look of intense sadistic pleasure on her face, or the buzz saw that she held in each hand, but Timmy could tell now that this was not Trixie.

Wait. Scratch that. He could tell this was not how Trixie would act. Ever.

"Who are you?"

"I am your worst nightmare," said the fake Trixie, but the voice didn't sound like Trixie's own. It was darker, lower, harsher - though still teenage - and above all else it sounded _masculine_. The tone of the voice was flat and unwavering, but had the same quality of hearing someone shouting complex expletives and death threats at you from the other end of a long, long tunnel - a subtle indication of menace and malign intent.

"Wh-what are you?" Timmy prayed that he didn't sound as fearful to this... thing's ears as he did to his own.

"I am not a Fairy," said 'Trixie.' "I am not a Pixie, or an Anry, or a Faiti. One could even go so far as to say that I do not truly exist at all. I _do_ lack the Fairy counterpart needed to qualify me as existent."

"...

"So, you're an Anti-Fairy?" Timmy asked.

"Indeed," said the Anti-Fairy disguised as Trixie. Then it said, in an impeccable imitation of Trixie's voice, age ten, "Why is that loser talking to me?"

Then suddenly it clicked for Timmy. There was no dawning moment of comprehension for him.

Suddenly it all fell together.

"You did that? You kept me from actually reading Trixie's mind that one time and made me think Trixie really hated me? And you were putting these nightmares in my head?" Timmy accused.

The Anti-Fairy nodded.

"Why?"

"It was primarily to ensure that you never find happiness with Trixie. Your love for her is my weakness."

"How?"

The Anti-Fairy made a look of sinister intent on his face; the fact that he still had his Trixie façade up made it even more horrible. Even as he gave Timmy that look, Timmy saw him fading into nothingness once more, leaving him to look at, hear, and feel nothing.

**That's for me to know...and you to forget**, said the voice, even though Timmy could not feel the presence of the person before him, behind him, or anywhere near him. **Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a resurrection to attend to.**

Then pain danced through his body, and seared through his side and his right leg.

He coughed raggedly. He heard a voice saying something, and quickly identified it as Tootie's. She sounded anxious about something.

He opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was...

"Tr-Trixie?"

Yes, it was her. But not at all like how he had seen 'her' just moments ago. Her face was puffy and her eyes were red, and tears were streaming down her face, which had so much mingled despair and hope that he was almost driven to tears for her.

_Trixie's crying?_ he thought. _Is the sky falling, Chicken Little?_

Then he could hear an ambulance's siren as blackness engulfed him and he fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

"Quick, Anti-Cosmo!" snarled the Master from his throne. "The time is right!"

"For the resurrection?" asked Anti-Cosmo.

"Yes, Anti-Cosmo." The Master raised the wand in his hand, and a large cauldron appeared in the middle of his throne room, a fire crackling beneath it. For an instant, the darkness about him deepened and swirled, giving him the appearance of an obsidian cyclone through Anti-Cosmo's monocle.

For Anti-Cosmo's monocle does not help his vision in the usual sense, although his vision in that particular eye is rather poor. It has been constructed by one of his ancestors, and was passed down several generations until his own.

But it is more than a family artifact.

It is enchanted.

Looking through it, Anti-Cosmo is able to see the magical signature of any being, whether they are an Anti-Fairy or a Fairy or Pixie or Anry or Faiti, or even human.

This is how Anti-Cosmo sees various magical beings through his monocle.

Fairies appear as beings of rosy light.

Anti-Fairies are seen as beings of azure light.

Anries appear to shine with a violet light.

Faities look to be composed entirely of mauve light.

Pixies, true to their dull, bureaucratic outlook, appear as beings of dull and grey light.

Lawn gnomes are perceived as maroon-glowing creatures.

The stronger their magical abilities, the stronger their glow. No two magical creatures have the same level of luminescence. Save Fairies and their Anti-Fairy counterparts, and vice versa.

He even sees Ghosts as emerald light beings and humans as a bland white through his monocle. Even identical twins have unique signatures.

But the Master Anti-Fairy is an anomaly. Through Anti-Cosmo's monocle, he appears as an event horizon. The Master Anti-Fairy is seen as a being of nothingness.

A black hole in the fabric of magic.

Then the Master raised his wand again, and almost the entire throne room, save the floor, around them vanished.

At that moment, Anti-Cosmo felt a magical pulse from the Master that projected a message to every Anti-Fairy in the Antiverse saying _come to the throne room immediately_.

There was a chorus of anti-poofs and countless clouds of pale-blue smoke in the air above and around the Master and his second-in-command as the Anti-Fairies arrived.

"Put me in the cauldron, Anti-Cosmo!" snarled the Master. "Do it! Now!"

"Yes, Master!" said Anti-Cosmo. "And the Thermos?"

The Master set the dented Thermos on the throne next to him. "Punish any Anti-Fairy who touches this Thermos in any way you see fit, Anti-Cosmo."

"Yes, Master," said Anti-Cosmo, taking the small form from the throne and hovering over to the cauldron.

Within, he saw boiling water that strangely enough emitted no steam.

"Master, are you sure that--...?"

"Anti-Cosmo! I am immune to pain now! We musn't waste time! Drop me! NOW!"

And Anti-Cosmo did; the force of the Master yell had caused Anti-Cosmo to flinch involuntarily and drop the Master Anti-Fairy into the cauldron with a hiss and a splash. Anti-Cosmo flinched back to avoid the scalding droplets.

After taking a moment to recompose himself, Anti-Cosmo began the ritual.

* * *

Trixie sat in the hospital waiting room, doing exactly what people in the waiting room were implied as being required to do there: wait.

Waiting was killing her.

The only reason they'd taken her to Dimmsdale Hospital was because she said that she was Timmy's girlfriend - though she'd gotten more than a few odd looks, because she was still wearing the wedding dress - and Tootie had tagged along to see if the boy that she'd been in love with for ten years, and that she had just begun a sisterly relationship with, would survive.

On the other side of the waiting room, Trixie saw a black-haired man she took to be Timmy's father, trying to comfort his sobbing brown-haired wife. Trixie didn't say anything to them. She couldn't say anything, except perhaps, "Sorry Mr. and Mrs. Turner, that your son got run over by a car because he loves me?"

So she said nothing.

At that point a doctor came out, holding a clipboard labeled 'Patient DFK-6498: Timothy T. Turner'.

"Who's here for Timothy Turner?" she said.

"We are," Timmy's father said as he, his wife, Trixie, and Tootie stood up.

"We have stabilized his bleeding and bandaged the wound," she said, the smile and compassion evident in her voice. " His leg was broken in two places, but we have it in a cast and sling. It is entirely likely that he'll make it through. Seeing as he should be in a lot worse state than he is - judging from the nature of the hit - someone up there must like him."

_And me_, Trixie added in her mind. _I can't see why, but someone up there likes me._

Timmy's mother let out a ragged sigh of relief. "Oh my little boy," she sobbed. "He's gonna make it."

"Can we go see him?" Trixie asked, hoping that the answer was...

"Yes, you may," said the doctor, leading them down the hall to the room where Timmy lay in state.

"He's unconscious right now, since he woke up before the procedure," said the doctor. "We had to sedate him so that we could fix his side injury and broken leg without waking up the whole hospital.

"Well, here we are," she said, outside room A-113. "Now, only one to two visitors are allowed at a time, and I think it's most appropriate that the parents be the first to visit. No offense to either of you," she added to Trixie and Tootie.

Timmy's parents entered the room where Timmy was recovering.

For a minute or so, Trixie and Tootie sat in silence in the chairs outside the room, listening to the sobs of joy of Timmy's mother, crying over how happy she was that her son survived the accident, and his father swearing that he and his wife would never take Timmy for granted ever again.

Then, just before Timmy's parents came out of the hospital room, Trixie turned to Tootie.

She had to know...

"Why was Timmy running to my house?" Trixie asked. A part of her was thinking _Why are you asking that Trixie?_ while another part of her was saying _How can he still feel that way?_

"...

"To tell you that he loves you," Tootie said.

There. In seven simple words. Tootie demolished any self-esteem that Trixie had hastily assembled before she came to the hospital.

The doctor turned to Trixie and Tootie. "Will both of you be going next, or one at a time?"

"You see him first," Tootie said, nudging Trixie as she pulled out her cell phone. "I'm gonna tell Sammy & Chester about what happened," she added.

The doctor lead Trixie into room A-113. There Trixie saw Timmy, lying unconscious. His right leg was wrapped in plaster, his face had developed a few bruises that Trixie had not noticed before. His shirt was off, revealing the bandages wrapped around his midsection.

With no one in the room to watch her, she lost her self-restraint.

She cried over his still form.

"How can you love me?" she asked herself more than anybody. She closed her eyes to stem the flow of tears, to no avail. "How, when I never even acted like you _existed_ to me? How, when all you get out of me is 'not worthy' and 'empty bus seat'? _How?_"

"Because I know there's good in you, Trixie," said a weak voice from the bed. She opened her eyes...

And looked into Timmy's perfect blue ones.

There wasn't a thought that went through her head at that point. It was clouded by smoke. All that mattered was Timmy.

Ensuring that she didn't touch his wounded side, she embraced him.

"Oh Timmy," she sobbed into his shoulder; he had to have been wearing a shocked expression, why wouldn't he be? "You couldn't be more wrong about that. There _is_ no good left in me! I'm always so horrible to anyone in the 'lower class', and I can't feel anything; I'm not allowed to. I'm not my own person. A person wouldn't act like that. I'm a-a machine of popularity, that's what I am!"

And that was true; she had no true heart anymore; from the moment that her mother began to drill into her that she was a member of the most popular family in Dimmsdale, she had a furnace-heart, that was fueled by a power source her mother had strongly protested against if it was directed at anyone with a lower level of popularity.

Her love for Timothy Thomas Turner.

And that fire with the strength of a thousand suns burned within it everyone and everything that Trixie despised among all others: her 'friends' Tad, Chad, and Veronica, her popularity, her status as the most popular girl in the city...

And especially herself.

"But I _do_ feel something," said Trixie. "Something that has kept me going for the past ten years. Something that I can't _live_ without. Something that I feel for someone that I _shouldn't_ feel for them."

She could see the question in his eyes, those deep, beautiful cerulean eyes. He wanted to know.

She knew. He wanted to know everything about her.

She could have stared into those eyes forever. But she was just fooling herself, and deceiving him some more.

That had to stop.

Here...

And now.

* * *

Anti-Cosmo closed his eyes, raised his wand, and uttered, "Bone of Fairy, unknowingly taken..."

He sent his mind to Fairy World, where he located Jorgen von Strangle's office - which was little more than a weight room with a desk in the middle - and from there it was a cinch to locate the drawer in his desk labeled 'Teeth I Knocked out of Puny Fairies' Mouthes in a Display of My Muscles' Muscular Strength', and anti-poofed a few of the teeth into the air over the boiling cauldron.

Anti-Cosmo opened his eyes again, and the teeth dropped into the cauldron. Several Anti-Fairies 'ooh'-ed and 'aah'-ed at the hissing sound that followed.

Anti-Cosmo then hesitated for a moment, but any worry for himself evaporated like the water in the cauldron wasn't. This was to help the Master Anti-Fairy, and it had to be done.

With a twist of his will, his obsidian wand became a handgrip of steel and rubber, with a hole on one end. Anti-Cosmo pressed a button, and a crimson blade of light - with a five-pointed star at its apex - emerged from the hilt.

Anti-Cosmo, holding the lightsaber in his left hand, held it over his right wrist. "Flesh of Anti-Fairy, willingly given..."

And without a second's hesitation he brought the crimson blade down, vaporizing the cuff of his sleeve and disintegrating flesh and shearing bone; and away fell Anti-Cosmo's right hand, smelling of charred skin. It landed in the cauldron with a sickening splash and a loud hiss.

Anti-Cosmo floated there panting for a few seconds; this wound would not easily heal. Although Fairies and Anti-Fairies (as well as any crossbred offspring) are notoriously fast healers and can recover from life-threatening injuries in a matter of hours, severed limbs heal in much the same way that humans' do: slowly.

Perhaps the Master would see to it after his resurrection.

After a few seconds' recovery, Anti-Cosmo anti-poofed the lightsaber in his remaining hand back into a wand, and, ignoring the tears rolling down his face, continued, "And... (here's the tricky part) blood, of the Fairy counterpart, forcibly taken..."

Anti-Cosmo closed his eyes, and sent his mind out to... he didn't know where the Master's Fairy counterpart could be found. Taking a risk, Anti-Cosmo went out on a limb and began a mental chant.

_Please bring a sample of the Master Anti-Fairy's Fairy counterpart's blood here..._

_Please bring a sample of the Master Anti-Fairy's Fairy counterpart's blood here..._

_Please bring a sample of the Master Anti-Fairy's Fairy counterpart's blood here..._

There was an anti-poof before Anti-Cosmo, who opened his eyes. Hovering over the sizzling cauldron - which, he noted detachedly, was the exact shape of Cosmo & Wanda's fishbowl in Timmy Turner's bedroom - was a small shapeless blob of a viscous red fluid smaller around than a circle made by a child's forefinger and thumb.

_The blood of the Master's Fairy counterpart..._ Anti-Cosmo thought. _It must have been separated from him somehow._ He lowered his wand, and the blood lowered into the cauldron as Anti-Cosmo shouted to his brethren, "Anti-ladies and Anti-gentlemen, my Anti-brothers and Anti-sisters - and my beloved Anti-Wanda, of course - lend me your Anti-ears! THE MASTER OF ALL ANTI-FAIRIES IS _REBORN_!"

There was a deafening cheer from the Anti-Fairies around Anti-Cosmo and the cauldron, which began to glow a brilliant white.

A column of eternal fire erupted from and engulfed the cauldron. An unholy rumble echoed in every direction as the flaming pillar spiralled into infinity. Anti-Cosmo, out of reflex, anti-poofed to his Anti-Wanda's side; it wouldn't do for him to be incinerated like that.

The Anti-Fairies began to chatter in confusion; what was going on? Their Master was supposed to be resurrected, not burst into flames like this.

The flames died out.

The Anti-Fairies, who had been watching the ascension of the flaming column to the point of vertigo, looked back down at where the cauldron was.

It wasn't there.

In its place was... something. They could see a small, slimy, blue something, surrounded by dark smoke, lowly moaning as it bended and flexed its limbs sporadically. Batlike wings poked out of its back, too small to do it any good, with or without magic.

And it was growing.

After a few moments, the small creature had grown to the size of an average Anti-Fairy, and gained recognizable features. Midnight-blue hair sprouted from its head and fangs protruded from its upper jaw, as the clouds of darkness began to swirl around its body and some point over its head. Its eyes were closed, and it was hunched forward in a fetal position.

But it didn't stop growing there; it grew and grew, from the mere one-and-a-half-foot height of an average Anti-Fairy, to the five-foot-nine height of an average teenage human male.

The dark clouds were jet-black by now, and had taken on identifiable appearances. The clouds about its torso would form its clothes, and a tall crown-like formation over his head would become its hat.

The creature straightened up, and the dark clouds dissipated, revealing its T-shirt - which was eerily the exact color of its hair - and its pants, shoes, and hat with five crownlike points on its top - all of which were as dark as night, save a crimson band about the base of the crown-hat on its head. A shadow stretched from its shoulders as a cape; behind this cape unfolded a pair of very large bat wings.

Through Anti-Cosmo's monocle, it was seen as a being of nothingness with violet light swirling through its form.

The Master of All Anti-Fairies was reborn as an Anry.

---

The Master reached up with clawed fingers, running his hands over the top of his head. He felt his fingers roll through a full head of hair. Next, he brought a hand up to his face, feeling every groove and curve and form on his face, recalling what it was like then...

And noting the differences that age brought.

And speaking of age, his wings were now far larger. As a test to see how much wind they could hold - and to see if he could fly if his supply of magic were somehow cut off - he flapped his large bat-wings a few times.

He snapped his eyes open. His mismatched black-and-white eyes with their blood-red scleras, watched as the smoke that was all that remained of the cauldron he was reborn in blew away.

This was good.

The Master raised his right arm, with his palm facing him. He brought his left arm up, and an obsidian wand with a foot-long handle and an upside-down, five-pointed star on its tip appeared in his left hand.

He plunged one of the two leading points deep into the area just below his right wrist, and dragged it straight down his forearm.

The Master watched detachedly as the blood that seeped from the wound was not blue as cobalt glass, as Anti-Fairy blood was, but red as rubies. Like Fairy blood.

And human blood.

This, too, was good.

Now that his Fairy counterpart's blood ran in his veins and he himself was an Anry, he had no fear of death if his Fairy counterpart were to die.

Say, from a _Verbus Mortus_ spell.

In seconds, the wound had sealed itself up again, with no sign of a scar.

Then the Master let his eyes roam over the Anti-Fairies, reading their expressions of awe, fear, and reverence. Some were even bowing. He sent his mind outwards - it was so easy now, he was almost startled; but then, he _had_ spent only a single day in his natural form - and read their true thoughts.

Analyzed their true hearts.

He was disgusted.

These fools were obsessed with bad luck, Friday the 13th, black cats, and the like. They did not live for supremacy; they lived solely to ensure that bad luck and _only_ bad luck had supremacy.

_Insolent fools_, he thought.

Anti-Cosmo floated forwards. Tears of mingled joy and pain streamed down his face as he held out his right arm - still lacking a hand - and said, "Umm, Master?"

Without a word, the Master waved his wand, and a new hand appeared in place of Anti-Cosmo's old one. It looked like he was wearing a silvery glove.

"Thank you, Master," said Anti-Cosmo, his eyes alight with admiration of his new appendage. "It's beautiful..."

The Master Anti-Fairy smirked. His voice sounded much lower now that he was in his teen years. And more menacing. "It is simply repayment of this, Anti-Cosmo," he said, gesturing towards his body, whole and freshly made. Then he turned his head towards his throne and raised his hand, and the Thermos, which lay on its side on his throne, floated over into his hand.

"I shall return, my servants," said the Master. "I must inform our allies of my resurrection."

And rather than disappearing in a cloud of black smoke or pale-blue smoke, the Master phased away to his next destination, as though he wasn't even there.

As though he didn't exist.

* * *

"You're her best friends!" Beatrix shouted at Tad, Chad, and Veronica as they sat on the couch in the sitting room. "You should know her better than most people! I didn't force your parents to drive you here just so that you three could sit there and not _tell_ me anything! Why is she going to the hospital to look after that Toner boy?!"

Tad said, "Umm, it's actually _Turner_--..."

"THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT!" Beatrix yelled at them, and they quivered in their seats. "What _is_ important is that you three tell why she's even ten feet from him, _NOW!_" On her last word, she slammed her fist on the table, and the house shook around them.

Nigel tapped his irritant wife on the shoulder. "Umm, honey, you get more flies with--..."

"SHUT UP, NIGEL! TELL ME I'M PRETTY!" Beatrix shrieked, her left eye twitching slightly. Nigel slowly backed away, mumbling a quick "You're pretty," before hurrying to a small chair in the corner of the room.

"Now..." Beatrix hissed, leaning in to Tad, Chad, and Veronica's faces close enough to kiss them. "Why is my very popular daughter following a boy from the very bottom rungs of popularity to the hospital?"

"She likes him," blurted out Veronica. She wanted Timmy, and would do anything to get him, even rat out her 'best friend'. Tad and Chad gave her horrified looks which she ignored. "And she _totally_ doesn't care about the whole popularity thing, because she's so _totally_ in love with him, y'know?"

Beatrix gave Veronica a skeptical look, as if she didn't quite believe her.

Tad & Chad were dumbstruck. Tad was the first to say anything, "Veronica! You _swore_ you wouldn't tell anyone!"

"What?" Veronica said, confused. "You _totally_ said, and I _totally_ quote, 'You won't tell Trixie what we discussed here, will you, Veronica?' You _so_ didn't say that I couldn't tell Trixie's mom, so I didn't, y'know, break my promise."

And she knew they were in big trouble there.

"You knew?" Beatrix said. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because," Tad said. "She's a friend. And I don't mean that we only like her because she's popular like we are."

"It was like that at first, though," Chad continued. "Then, after a little time, we realized we would never sell her out like that."

"She became a real friend to us," Tad added.

"But _we're_ not _her_ friends," Chad said.

"What do you mean?" Beatrix persisted.

"She hates us," Tad said. "I think that we embody popularity in her eyes. She thinks we're keeping her from Timmy--..."

"Who?"

"The 'Toner boy'," said Chad coolly. "Like Veronica said, she really likes him, and she thinks her popularity is what's keeping her from being with him."

"Well, it isn't," Beatrix said, and Tad, Chad, and Veronica gave her surprised looks.

"It's _his_ _un_popularity that says that they _shouldn't_ be together! It wouldn't be good for the family bloodline if we had unpopularity tainting it," Beatrix snarled.

"Unpopularity isn't genetic, Beatrix," Nigel said, standing up and walking towards Beatrix. "And who knows? It might be good to introduce some diversity into the bloodline. I mean, look at your family history. At least a third of the marriages in your family involved _inbreeding_!"

"So?" Beatrix asked coldly. Tad, Chad, and Veronica expected Nigel to back down.

They were wrong.

"So, I think I actually _love_ our daughter, unlike you," Nigel said. "All you seem to care about is how her social life will affect yours."

"I _do_ care about what she wants!" Beatrix shouted.

"So, do you know what she wants?" Nigel replied, barely raising his voice.

At this point, Tad, Chad, and Veronica knew that Beatrix had no leg to stand on in her argument.

"Uh...um..."

"Beatrix, I love you," Nigel said. "But I think that you put too much emphasis on material possessions. I think you should consider yourself lucky that our daughter - our little girl - has really fallen in love, unlike all the arranged marriages our families went through."

"So you're complaining about our marriage _now_, when you had the chance to 16 years ago when we said our vows?"

"I'm not complaining about our marriage, dear," Nigel said, now standing directly in front of Beatrix. "I'm just asking you to get your priorities straight, and ask yourself what's more important: Trixie's popularity, or Trixie's happiness?"

Tad and Chad could see that Beatrix seemed to be waging an internal battle; they could just imagine what she was thinking about as though all of her rouge and mascara and lipstick were translucent: if Beatrix refused to allow Trixie to be with Timmy, then she would have to put up with a daughter who would either hate her mother forever or take a long walk off the nearest and shortest pier; but if Beatrix however reluctantly allowed her daughter to be with Timmy, then Trixie would be forever grateful to her mother, whether or not she was disowned.

Finally, Beatrix Tang made a decision that would affect her family forever.

* * *

This is how it feels to be Timmy Turner, right now:

Here, now, in seven simple words, Trixie has changed your world.

"I'm in love with you, Timmy Turner."

The true meaning of these words eludes you, as the scope they imply is too great even for your adolescent mind to comprehend.

"For--... For how long?" you hear yourself asking.

"Since the first day of kindergarten," she says, her voice thick with tears.

So the girl that you love more than anything else in the universe - the girl who was everything that was ever loved by anyone to you - has been lying to you from the moment you first set eyes on each other.

And you're not even mad about it.

Only stunned.

"Wow," is all that you have to say. Words have failed you.

"But I shouldn't love you, Timmy!" she says, almost hysterical. "You think I live the perfect life, but that's not true. Nothing could be further from the truth. _You_ live the perfect life; _you_ don't have to worry about conforming to the norm of popularity; _you_ don't have to worry about playing video games, watching action movies, or reading comics like _Skull Squisher_ or _Crash Nebula_ or _Space Wars_. You live a care-free life, and--..." Then she breaks down, wiping the tears away from her eyes in vain.

Accidently wiping away her eyeshadow.

And you find her even more beautiful.

"Ohh, Timmy, I don't deserve you at all!" she says, embracing you again. "I've been so horrible to you for ten years. _Tootie_ is the one who deserves your love. _Tootie_ is the one who you should be with, not _me_." She buries herself into your chest, and you hear her mutter something that sounds like, "I hate myself..."

You raise your hands, placing one on her back and moving it back and forth in a comforting way, and caressing her perfect, silky-black hair with your other.

"Why do you love me?" she asks.

And to you, there is no need to think about the answer at all.

"Because I know that you deserve love," you say, speaking your heart. You have been going over this in your head for years now; now is the time to put it to the test. "I know that being popular is a real stinker, and I know that you can't be yourself when you are as popular as you are, and I know that you like comics and action movies and stuff like that." You notice her looking up at you in shock, her face red and puffy from her crying. "Don't worry. Next to the friends I got, that's pretty much normal to me. I wouldn't let things like that make me think any less of you. I knew that you didn't mean it when you rejected me or said 'no' or 'not worthy' to me; I knew you had to have some feelings for me somewhere. I mean, you _did_ kiss me that time."

"Well, I kind of lost control of my feelings there," she says. The tears have stopped, but she still sounds teary.

"But I liked it," you continue. "No, I _loved_ it. I wanted more of it. I _want_ more of it. What do you want, Trixie?"

She pauses for a moment. "You, Timmy," she says. "I want you. I _need_ you, Timmy! I can't live without you!"

"And you can have me, if you really want me. Listen, Trixie. If that limo was heading for you and I knew I would die if I pushed you out of its way, I would have done it. I don't care if we're on opposite sides of the popularity chart from each other. I don't care what Tad, Chad, Veronica, or your bodyguard have to say about me. I don't even care if I lose all my credibility in Dimmsdale from saying this, but: I'm in love with you, Trixie Tang. Now and forever."

And you mean every word of it. In your heart, you know you would never let harm come to her.

This is how it feels to be Timmy Turner, right now...

---

This is how it feels to be Trixie Tang, right now:

You take in every word that Timmy has said as though it were water. As though those words alone can keep you alive for a moment longer.

And as far as you are concerned, they can.

Never before had you realized just how deeply he cares for you. Before you had thought, _He's in love with me. That's good._ But never before have you realized you are more to him than a simple object of lust.

You are the very reason he exists.

You are everything that he has ever loved.

And what's more, he doesn't care about your popularity.

Right now, neither do you.

All you know is that your mother will kill you when she sees you again.

So there is no choice at all.

And there is no need for words.

You slowly lean down to embrace him and let him wash over you and wash away all your worries and concerns.

Then an odd feeling comes over you. It is like your brain has become a house, and all of your memories are different rooms in the house, and the door leading to the basement has been locked for years. The feeling is that of the door suddenly becoming unlocked and memories that you have forgotten have suddenly been recalled.

And you remember them.

Your Fairy GodParents.

Then you hear twin poofs overhead and two cheery voices calling out your name.

And Timmy's.

"Hey, Timmy & Trixie!" they say.

You start, turning around and looking up at Cosmo & Wanda.

"Cosmo? Wanda? What are you doing here?" you say. But you are not the only one who said it. You look over at Timmy.

"Uhh, Trixie, Cosmo & Wanda. They're my Fairy GodParents," he says, before turning to Cosmo & Wanda. "Good-bye, guys. I never thought I'd lose you like this, with you two poofing in when you're not supposed to been seen by anyone but me."

_So it's my fault that Timmy's losing his Fairy GodParents?_ you think. _Do I really deserve him?_

"But Timmy," Cosmo says, a smile apparent on his face. "We aren't supposed to leave yet. There's a new Rule."

_A new Rule?_

"Whoop-dee-doo, another Rule that'll make sure that I can't make any wishes at all for the rest of your tenure as my GodParents," Timmy drones out.

Wanda poofs up Da Rules and turns to a specific page. She says, "Actually, the new Rule says, 'If a GodChild is in love with another child - who returns those feelings - who has Fairy GodParent(s) or had the same Fairy GodParent(s) as the former child at an earlier time, those two children shall be permitted to share the Fairy GodParents, regardless of past misdeeds'!"

You feel your heart skip a beat; you could possibly be reunited with the Fairy GodParents who were so loving and caring towards you - and for whom you reciprocated the feelings - and whom you unfortunately lost due to a careless mistake. _I _do_ believe in Fairies_, you chant in your mind, recalling the reason you lost them. _I _do _believe in Fairies. I _do _believe in Fairies._

"So, you guys aren't going away forever? And I can share you guys with Trixie?" Timmy says, a smile evident on his face. You love his smile. You love his bucked teeth. You love his blue eyes. You love everything about him.

"You bet, sport!" Wanda says, smiling down at you both. "And don't worry about people hearing all this talk about magic. I sound-proofed the room--..."

"You mean 'sound-_poofed_', baby," says Cosmo, eliciting a chuckle from Wanda.

"Yes, sweetie, I meant 'sound-_poofed_'," Wanda continues, giving Cosmo a soft look. "Sound-_poofed_ the room so that no one outside can hear what's happening in here until you leave, Trixie."

"Ohhh, Cosmo! Wanda!" you exclaim, jumping up to embrace them. Ah, that floating feeling from contacting a Fairy while jumping. How you love it. "You have no idea how much this means to me! I love you guys so much!"

"Ohh, Trixie," Wanda says, hugging you back and letting you feel the warmth and motherly love your mother never gave you. "We love you too, and we'll never stop!"

Letting go, you drop back to the ground, landing on the seat beside Timmy's hospital bed. You cannot believe your fortune; less than an hour ago, you'd thought you would lose Timmy forever; now, he knows of your love, would do anything for you, and you remember Cosmo & Wanda, your Fairy GodParents. You can't imagine that this is the same day, let alone the same _hour_.

"Oh, and Timmy, Trixie, Cupid apologizes for putting you through any pain these past ten years," Wanda says. "I know you think he wanted you to be with Tootie, Timmy, but he wanted you to rely on yourself, and be yourself, so he acted like--..."

"I understand, Wanda," Timmy says. You understand, too. "It was reverse psychology!"

"That's right! And your prize is...!" Cosmo says in a game-show-host voice, raising his wand, the star glowing.

Wanda raises her hand. "Uh, better not do that, sweetie," she says. Cosmo lowers his wand, looking dejected. Then Wanda kisses him on the cheek, and he perks up.

Timmy looks at you, putting his hand to his head and miming talking into a telephone, "Hello, Heaven. You must be missing an angel, 'cause there's one here with me right now."

"Hmph, that's a pretty corny flirt, Timmy," you say. Then you lean over him, a flirtatious look on your face. "I loved it."

And, for the first time ever, you and the love of your life share a kiss.

And everything is perfect.

This is how it feels to be Trixie Tang, right now...

* * *

Trixie walked out of room A-113 on a high. She felt as giddy as a Chip Skylark fangirl who had just gotten the singing sensation's autograph.

Trixie knew just how strongly her feelings burned for Timmy, and how strongly his burned for her. There were no secrets anymore; they would never keep secrets from each other. Not even the secret of having Fairy GodParents. They loved each other too much to deceive each other anymore.

They would start going steady the instant he fully recovered.

And they knew it. They didn't even need to decide on it.

The decision was made that first day of kindergarten.

Now that they knew how important they were to each other, neither would ever leave the other's side.

Ever.

They needed each other, since they were both half of one person. Trixie chuckled to herself as she recalled Cosmo & Wanda describing themselves to her as 'two halves of a whole idiot'.

"And what is so funny, young lady? Something your little 'boyfriend' said?" said a very familiar voice.

Then Trixie looked up, and saw her mother.

"You could say that," she said simply.

There was a tense silence in the air as thick as Cosmo's skull.

"Beatrix Elizabeth Tang the Second," Beatrix finally said.

_Uh-oh_, Trixie thought. _She only says my name like that when I'm in trouble. _Big_ trouble._

"Your friends have betrayed you," Beatrix said to her daughter. "They told me how you feel for Tommy Trumbull."

_Tad, Chad, and Veronica betrayed me?_ "Timmy Turner--..."

"The only reason I'm not shouting 'That's not the point', young lady, is because we're in a hospital," Beatrix hissed. She almost sounded more menacing than when she was shouting. It was at this point that Trixie saw Tad and Chad behind her mother, in addition to her father. And Veronica was nowhere to be found. Tad, Chad, and her father all looked... relieved?

_I can see why Tad & Chad would look that way if they didn't have to deal with me anymore_, Trixie thought. _But why my dad? And where's Veronica?_

"How much does he mean to you?" Beatrix asked.

"He means everything and more to me," Trixie said, her heart pounding against her ribcage. And she may have sounded corny, but it was true.

"Well, your father and I were talking after we found out how you feel about him," Beatrix continued. "And frankly, your father just wants you to be happy."

Trixie remained silent, not knowing what her mother would say next.

She was shocked.

"I had no foot to stand on in our argument, and I - however reluctantly - conceded to your father's and Tad & Chad's demands. You can go steady with him. Your marriage to Theobald is indefinitely postponed."

"What?"

It was a natural response to a natural surprise; her mother would really let her go out with Timmy? And Tad & Chad wanted her to?

"I said you can go out with Timon, or whatever his name is! But the second you two break up, you are not allowed near him ever again!"

"Oh, thank you, Mommy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Trixie squealed, hugging her mother about the waist. Beatrix looked surprised; after all, Trixie hadn't called her 'Mommy' in almost twelve years. _I guess I'll make sure we never break up, then_, she thought. Then something startling happened.

Beatrix hugged Trixie back.

She seemed to realize what she was doing, though, because she then pulled herself away, brushed off her skirt, and said, "Don't read too much into that, Trixie. It was a one-time thing."

"Thanks anyway, Mom," Trixie said, turning to Tad & Chad.

"We were rooting for you two the whole time, y'know," said Tad.

"We wouldn't have ratted you out if Veronica didn't say anything," added Chad.

"Where is she, anyway?" Trixie asked.

"The second your mom decided to let you go steady with Timmy, she just went berzerk and ran off down the street," Chad said.

"I always knew she was the crazy one," Tad added.

Then something no one expected happened.

Trixie threw her arms around Tad & Chad, tears of joy in her eyes. And as this happened, she felt her furnace-heart transforming, the whole of her being becoming a true person.

Rather than an embodiment of popularity.

She was her own being, at last.

"You guys are true friends," she said.

"We never weren't," Tad said, patting her on the back.

---

Tootie walked into Timmy's hospital room. He looked pretty bad, but still looked like he'd pull through.

"Hey, sis," Timmy said to her as she came in, refering to the strength of their friendship now.

"So Vicky's your sister, too?" Tootie said, giggling.

"Icky Vicky? No way! Just the thought of being around her makes me oh so sicky!" Timmy replied, quoting the Chip Skylark song 'Icky Vicky'. Timmy and Tootie laughed for a few seconds.

"So, what happened?" Tootie asked.

"Well, I told Trixie that I love her," he said.

"And?"

"And she loves me, too."

"I figured. Her mom is out there. She _very_ reluctantly gave you her blessing. **Veerryy** reluctantly."

Timmy chuckled. "I guess I owe her one," he said.

"I guess. ...Tad & Chad were supportive from the beginning."

"Really?" Timmy said. He didn't expect that. "And the crazy one?"

"Crazy one?"

"Veronica?"

"Oh! She quote-unquote 'went postal' when she found out Trixie's mom allowed you and Trixie to go out. We don't know where she ran off to."

"I'm not surprised that she ran off. She likes me."

"I'm guessing you don't like crazy girls like that?"

"Why would I be? I bet all she wants is me from the waist down!"

There was an uproar.

"Well, that's good to hear," Tootie said. "Get well soon, Timmy." And she kissed him on the cheek.

Timmy reached up to feel the spot where Tootie had kissed him as Tootie left the hospital room.

---

A few hours later, Tootie had found Sammy & Chester in the park. She had developed a friendship with them the same as Timmy over those three years, only not quite as strong.

"Hey, lovebirds. What's up?" she said. They looked up from their makeout-fest, and were surprised to see Tootie standing there.

"Hey, Tootie," said Chester, still holding hands with Sammy. "Sorry I couldn't make it to the hospital. Will Timmy be alright?"

Tootie smiled. "He'll be just fine," she said. "In fact, he just got Trixie Tang as a girlfriend."

"He did?" Chester said, looking surprised. "That's great!"

"Yeah," Sammy added, smiling. "I hope they're happy together."

"Me too," said Tootie, walking off, wandering aimlessly through the park.

_I suppose it's better to wander aimlessly through the park than to spend the day with Vicky_, she thought. Then she spotted someone walking down the walkway in the opposite direction.

Rudy Reed.

Perfect.

"Rudy!" Tootie called out.

---

"Rudy!"

Rudy turned around, surprised. Tootie was actually calling out to him? But she didn't like him enough to actually do that.

Didn't she?

Tootie ran up to him. "Umm, hey, Rudy," she said rather awkwardly.

"I heard about what happened to Timmy," said Rudy, feeling ten times as awkward. "I'd have come to the hospital, but I had to help my dad fix a leak in the roof."

"It's the thought that counts, though, huh?" Tootie said. After a moment of tense silence, she continued, "Timmy's Trixie Tang's boyfriend now."

"Really?" Rudy said. "He finally got what he wanted, huh?" _And when will I?_

"Yeah" Silence. "So... n-nice day, huh?"

"Any day's nice when you're around, Tootie," Rudy said, before he could stop himself. _Stupid!_ he thought, though, much to his surprise, Tootie actually blushed!

"That was pretty corny, Rudy," she said. Rudy chuckled nervously to himself, lowering his gaze to look at Tootie's feet.

"I liked it," said Tootie, unknowingly repeating what Trixie Tang had said to Timmy just hours ago, putting her hand under his chin so that he could look her in the eyes again. Rudy was shocked when Tootie removed her glasses, letting him stare into the bottomless pools of amethyst beauty that were her eyes.

_Will she...?_ Rudy thought, but his thoughts were interrupted when Tootie pressed her lips to his.

She was kissing him.

And when the reality of it finally sank in, Rudy kissed her back.

They only pulled apart when the need for oxygen overwhelmed them.

Rudy was almost afraid to say anything, as though saying even a single word would cause this whole scene before him to shatter into a million pieces, from which he'd never be able to reconstruct such a scene in reality.

He had to know, though.

"So, does this mean...?" he said.

"Yes, it does," said Tootie, kissing Rudy again, then replacing her glasses. "Wanna see a movie?" She asked.

"Do I ever!"

* * *

As has been stated before, the Trixie-Timmy-Tootie love triangle is a textbook example of the perfect love triangle, with its ideal players and its distribution of emotions and its ideal outcome for its players.

It worked perfectly.

* * *

_In the Bermuda Triangle, where no man dares enter, two islands can be found._

_These are no ordinary islands, as no other islands in the world - or in the rest of the universe, for that matter - are inhabitated with wishes that a foolhardy child wished for, then later tired of and unwished._

_One is Timmy Turner's Unwish Island._

_The other is Tibecuador, which Turner wished into existence to make his 'perfect' older brother, Tommy, credible - Tommy was supposedly working there._

_Was._

_Before I destroyed him._

_Unwished Wishes are normally stored in a locker in Fairy World. However, Turner has so many, that a larger space was required._

_Like an island._

_How do I know all this?_

_Because I_ am _an Unwished Wish._

_Dark Laser. Imaginary Gary. The Pumpkinator. Just a small handful of my brothers and sisters._

_None of us truly exist anymore._

_And my status as an Anry does not change that._

_I am _still_ an Unwished Wish, and I _still_ do not exist anymore_, the Master thought to himself as he spoke with Imaginary Gary outside the Club 'We Hate Timmy'. Being Timmy's old imaginary friend, Gary bore an uncanny resemblance to Timmy Turner.

_I guess that makes two of us_, the Master thought. He had told the Pixies, the Yugopotamians, the Yokians, and the Gigglepies of his resurrection.

Now he was telling the Unwished Wishes.

His only true allies.

"You've been resurrected? Cool..." said Gary, smirking evilly. "Nice to see you in your true form, Master Anti-Tim-Tim."

"Please, call me 'Master Anti-_Timothy_', not Anti-_Tim-Tim_, or Anti-_Timmy_, or Anti-_Tim_. They sound so... informal."

"Yeah, sure, whate--... I mean, of course, Master," said Gary, bowing to Anti-Timothy when he saw him raising his wand at him. Anti-Timothy heard him thinking, _Yeah, sure, Anti-Tim-Tim. I wonder what's in that Thermos in his hand?_

_I'll pretend I didn't hear that_, Anti-Timothy thought as he said, "Will you tell the others of my return?"

"Of course, Master Anti-Timothy. Where are you going?" Gary asked as he saw Anti-Timothy fading to his next destination.

"Why, to go ghost, of course," said Anti-Timothy, who faded completely from Unwish Island, and appeared before a mansion in Wisconsin. The mansion of Vlad Masters.

Also known as Vlad Plasmius, the Wisconsin Ghost.

* * *

(**Note:** So it's been nine days since I promised that I'd post within a week. Not quite as late as many of you probably expected, but at least you didn't wait a month, right?

Quite a few things happened in this chapter, huh? Timmy & Trixie become bf and gf, as do Tootie & Rudy, the Master Anti-Fairy - or rather, **Anti-Timothy** - is resurrected and journeys to meet up with Vlad Plasmius of _Danny Phantom_ fame, and Beatrix Tang flips out! Not to mention TWO 'This is how it feels to be...' moments! Whoda thunkit?

As an explanation for why Theobald's limo almost ran over Timmy, Anti-Timothy used _Contrarotus_ on the driver, and made it drive into Timmy. Originally, a random car was to come out of nowhere after Timmy & Trixie have a tiff, and he'd push her out of the way and get hit in the process. I really wish I could have found a way to put that in, but hey, you can't have everything.

And I'd like to congratulate the last two people to guess Anti-Timothy's identity: **Behemoth** and **Red Panda Bear** (though _you_ got it on your second try). I would like to show you guys a picture of Anti-Timothy I drew in Paint, based on a screenshot of Timmy from 'A Mile in My Shoes' (which partly inspired Anti-Timothy; Lord Voldemort is also to blame):

img344. imageshack. us/ img344/ 4292/ masterantifairy4ce. png

Just Copy it into your Address bar, remove the spaces, and hit Enter.

Looking back, his eyes became that way when he lost his heart. That is more of an amalgam pic, in retrospect; back then, Anti-Timothy had Timmy's eyes, but they became the way they are now after he lost his heart.

But this isn't the end. Not by a long shot; it just the _beginning_ of the end. You won't see the ending for a few chapters yet! Mwahahahahahahaha...!

Anyway, I'll keep on writing this if people keep on reviewing this! May the Force be with you all!

**Edit 7-10-06:** Fixed some things up; added mention of Tibecuador and the cancellation of Theobald's wedding. Also, anyone who wants to use the "'Just the Two of Us' is a nightmare" idea, go right ahead! I'm not stopping you!)


	11. Chapter 10

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom, or the characters herein. Also, I attribute Danny & Sam's psychic connection to Butch Hartman. The characters I do own are Rudy Reed, Sammy Tang-Hope, Anti-Juandissimo, Anti-Timothy, Samuel Hope, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Tang-Hope, Anti-Cupid, Theobald Tang, and Melody Victorson. I also own certain elements of existence as a Halfa that will be revealed later on. You can borrow them, though.)

(**Note:** anyone who wants to use the "'Just the Two of Us' is a nightmare" idea, go ahead! I'm not stopping you.)

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 10: The Unknown Enemy**

"Duh, whenzee gettin' bayack, sweetie?" Anti-Wanda asked Anti-Cosmo.

"I _said_, I don't know, lovey. You've asked me that question forty-two times already," Anti-Cosmo said wearily as Anti-Wanda took a bite out of the sandwich she held in her feet.

It was in that moment a note appeared in the hand of every Anti-Fairy in the Antiverse, and every Anti-Fairy who had a note in their hand was suddenly and inexplicably compelled to read it.

Every Anti-Fairy who read the note read the words:

_Dear servants,_

_I shall be away for a number of months. Do not be alarmed. I will return._

_Sincerely,_

_Your Master_

* * *

Ray Packer sat up slowly in bed, subconsciously wondering what had woken him up. He never usually woke up in the middle of the night.

There came a loud _Knock! Knock!_ from the front doors to his castle, former home of the Wisconsin Dairy King. And of Vlad Masters.

Ray groaned groggily, looking over at his clock.

_Two in the morning?_ Ray thought, still half-asleep. _Who could that possibly be at this hour?_

Only half-awake, and without even acknowledging the fact that he could use his Ghost powers to phase through the carpets and paneling and paintings of his castle and arrive at his front door in seconds, he began the trek from his bedroom to his front door with shuffling feet.

Ray slowly opened the door, ignoring the rain against his face as he asked groggily, "Who are you, and--..."

"Not now, Plasmius," said a teenage voice before him. "We need to talk."

Ray froze.

"H-how did--..." Ray stammered.

"I have my ways, _Vlad Masters_," said the figure before him, placing heavy emphasis on the name. "Now, _let me in_."

**Let him in**, said a voice in Vlad's head. And Vlad felt compelled to obey the voice, or else terrible things would happen.

_**---**_

This is Ray Packer:

A fleeting shadow. A face to wear.

In truth, Ray Packer is Vlad Masters.

_Affluence Magazine_'s Billionaire of the Year Award recipient in 2001. One of the richest men in the world. Former owner of Mastersoft, formerly owned by Bill Gates under a different name and currently owned by Ray Packer under the name PackerSoft. Former mayor of Amity Park.

But in the epicenter of his being, he is none of these.

He is part-Ghost.

A Halfa.

With a mere thought on his part, twin rings of obsidian energy can transfigure him from the human Vlad Masters...

Into the Ghost known as Vlad Plasmius.

Vlad Plasmius. The Wisconsin Ghost. Archnemesis of the spectral superhero, Danny Phantom. A seriously crazed-up fruit loop (according to Danny Phantom).

How did such an anomalous phenomena occur?

It all happened in college, 25 years ago. Back in those days, he was best friends with his roommate, Jack Fenton, an amiable fellow obsessed with entering the Ghosts' dimension. They were both friends with a young woman named Maddie, whom Vlad had feelings for.

Jack's Proto-Portal changed everything.

The prototype portal, which was supposed to lead to the Ghost Zone, blasted Vlad Masters in the face, giving him a terrible case of Ecto-Acne. He would spend the next several years in the hospital being treated.

That was when he discovered something: the incident with the Proto-Portal made him half-Ghost. He would spend the next twenty years of his life practicing his Ghost powers and, once he was released from the hospital, committing a series of invisible bank robberies to make his first million and overshadowing a series of millionaires and billionaires and making them give him their money or businesses and corporations to become one of the richest people on Earth.

During that time, he'd learned that Jack had married his beloved Maddie and had two children with her: a girl named Jasmine, and a boy named Daniel about two years later. Vlad's anger towards and hatred of Jack intensified when he learned of this; Jack had stolen his Maddie from him. She was _his_, and Jack had stolen her from Vlad!

Then he met Jack and his family.

And Vlad was shocked to learn that Danny Fenton – their then-fourteen-year-old son – was another Halfa, the phantasmic superhero who protected Amity Park from its spectral invaders.

Danny Phantom.

Upon discovering Danny Phantom's secret identity, Vlad tried time and again to bring young Daniel, along with his mother Maddie, over to his side, only to fail at every turn.

Even his attempts to clone Daniel resulted in disastrous failure, with Danny Phantom getting a new ally in the process: a female clone of him named Dani Phantom. Vlad was infuriated by that little twit of a turncoat.

Then he tricked his way into being mayor of Amity Park.

During this time, Dani had returned, and Vlad saw an opportunity to discover what went wrong in the cloning process, hiring the ghost hunter Valerie Gray to capture her.

Summarily, that plot failed, and worse still, Dani was stabilized in the process.

Then he attempted to become ruler of the world by bribing the world's leaders into that position if he stopped it an asteroid made entirely of Ectoranium on a direct collision with Earth.

As Plasmius.

Once again, that plot failed because the asteroid was made entirely from Ectoranium – a substance immune to Ghost powers – and because of Danny Phantom. To add insult to injury, Vlad himself was nearly killed when he was crushed by that self-same asteroid.

It was by his tremendous fortune that a natural Ghost Portal had opened up before him just moments after impact. It took him several weeks to recover from the incident, and he contemplated revenge against the Fentons, but in the end he decided against it.

It was at that time that a man who had never existed before walked into the Bank of Wisconsin. He had a social security number, a birth date, and everything the now-"late" Vlad Masters owned. Even his signature was a dead-on match.

Ray Packer moved into Vlad's old mansion.

So he retreated to his mansion in Wisconsin, hoping for a quiet life away from the Fentons.

And now, here he stands, at his doorstep, under the influence of a spell of mind control as he invites into his household the Master of All Anti-Fairies.

_**---**_

Vlad looked the teenager standing in the foyer over as he closed the door behind them.

He wasn't much to look at.

He had dark-brown, slightly spiked hair that he had fashioned into a mullet. He wore a black T-shirt, dark-blue jeans, and black boots with steel soles. The young man had a pale look about him, as though he hardly set foot outside when the sun was out, and cerulean-blue eyes that seemed eerily like Daniel's eyes, but Vlad was almost startled by the fierce determination that he saw burning within them.

The stolidity of his face was rather unnerving.

As was the Fenton Thermos in his hand.

But most unsettling of all was the condescending look in his eyes.

No. It was more than condescending. Whenever this young man looked at him, Vlad felt like an insect. Something mounted on a slide.

It was unsettling.

Unnaturally so.

But he brushed it aside, and faced the young man.

"Now, as I was saying before, who are you, and what are you doing out and about so late, young man?" Vlad asked. He added mentally, _And where did he get that Thermos from?_

The young man gave him a look for a fraction of a second, then simply said, "My name is Thomas Martini. People back home call me 'Tyte Tom'."

" 'Tyte' Thomas Martini?" Vlad asked, raising an eyebrow. There was that look again. He hid his shudder.

"Either 'Tyte Tom' or Tom will do. Everyone calls me the former back home," said Thomas.

"You're quite popular, I assume?"

"Yes, I am. _**Veerryy**_ popular," Tom said, smirking. "You could say they worship the very ground I walk on."

Vlad and Tom chuckled.

Vlad gave Tom a serious look.

"I would still like to know what brings you out here in the middle of the night," he persisted.

Tom returned the look. "I understand you are half-Ghost, _Plasmius_," said Tom.

_How did he find out I'm half-Ghost?_ Vlad thought with dismay.

"Because you just told me," said Tom triumphantly. Vlad gave him a shocked look. "Yes, I can read minds. It's a power I've had since I was very young."

Vlad was nervous, which was a first – Vlad Masters wasn't one to regularly express neurotic behavior. Having ghost powers for a quarter of a century should have ridded him of nervousness. The last time he was so shaken was when he stood before Pariah Dark, the Ghost King, after he had awoken him. But if this young man could read minds, what else could he do? Did he possess incredible psychokinetic powers? Would he find his heart had stopped or his castle collapsing down on him in a snap of Tom's fingers?

He feared the unknown.

"Wh-what do you w-want?" Vlad prayed that his voice wasn't nearly as shaky as it sounded to him.

"I want to know how to become one," Tom replied.

"What?"

"A _Halfa_!" said Tom, with more than a little anger.

"Really?" said Vlad, who breathed a heavy sigh of relief mentally. "Well, I'm afraid I can't help you with that, Tom. As far as I can tell, the only way to become half-Ghost is to be exposed to a heavy amount of ectoplasm, such as being caught in the middle of a Ghost Portal as it's been activated. And seeing as young Daniel – my former archenemy – has stolen back the plans for a Ghost Portal, I'm sorry to say that--..."

"He does have one of his own, doesn't he?"

"Well, his parents do, but--..."

"Grab my hand, Vlad."

"I--... What?"

"Grab. My. Hand," said Tom, very forcefully. Not taking chances with a young man with potentially ferocious psychic powers and a _serious_ superiority complex, Vlad grabbed his hand.

The foyer around them, along with all of his Green Bay Packers memorabilia and his prized football with Ray Nitschke's autograph and the portrait of the expired Dairy King, faded away as if it were all an illusion cast by the sunlight, leaving them in darkness.

Vlad saw Tom wave his hand out of the corner, and the lights came on.

They were in the Fenton family laboratory. In Amity Park.

_But that's impossible_, Vlad thought. _We were just in Wisconsin, and that's no small distance from Amity Park. It took the Fentons four days just to drive to my castle in that blasted RV..._

"That's the Portal, Vlad?" said Tom, looking at the circular construct of steel and plastic that reached for the ceiling of the room.

It was closed.

"Yes, but it's closed, but as far as I can tell, the keypad next to it requires a password or a sample of Fenton DNA to--..."

It was time for Vlad to be surprised again.

Tom raised his hand, and the yellow-and-black-striped steel doors blocking the Portal opened, revealing a swirling, shapeless, glowing-green gateway.

The Ghost Portal was open.

"Well, that... solves that problem," said Vlad, shaken slightly. "But, the Portal is still on--..."

"Is it?" said Tom, raising his hand towards the Portal again. In an instant, there was a faint clicking noise, and the swirling ectoplasm collapsed inward and vanished, along with the emerald glow that had heretofore enveloped the room.

The silence was deafening.

"Hold this. And don't open it," said Tom, roughly forcing the Thermos he'd been holding throughout into Vlad's hands.

_Where'd he get this?_ Vlad thought. The thermos then jolted in his hand as a faint, but cruel, laugh emanated from it. _What on _Earth_ is in this thing?_

As Tom walked up to the Ghost Portal, with the clear intent of reactivating it and becoming a Halfa, Vlad was suddenly filled with doubt.

"Tom!" Vlad called. Tom turned. "Don't do it."

"Why shouldn't I?" Tom asked frostily.

Vlad shuddered - he hoped, imperceptibly. There was that look again.

"Because... you aren't wearing a hazmat suit," Vlad pointed out. "And Daniel had to have been wearing one when he became half-Ghost, because so much ectoplasm infusing into his body otherwise would have been fatal - he'd have been rendered _full_ Ghost."

"And you're not affected as such because...?"

"My face was the only part of my body exposed to ectoplasm - which could explain why my Ghost half's face looks so radically--..."

"What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a Halfa?" asked Tom, interrupting Vlad _again_.

_What is it with him and interrupting me?_ Vlad thought, his eyes almost gleaming red in his anger… which quickly subsided.

"Well, I have theorized," he explained, "that being part-Ghost renders the Halfa immortal, in addition to granting the Halfa all the powers of a Ghost, which – as my experiments with lab animals have shown – do not deteriorate over several generations and vary from person to person. However – and this is a hypothesis – being part-Ghost essentially means you'll be living your life _and_ your afterlife simultaneously; if a Halfa gets killed, they don't become a Ghost, because their Ghost was just 'killed', as it were."

"I have no fear of death or pain. I do not exist anymore, so I cannot die," said Tom flatly, and without another word to Vlad or any further questions from the man, he slammed his fist onto the 'on' button.

* * *

This is Danny Phantom:

Daniel Fenton was just an average boy. Well, as average as he could get with Ghost-obsessed parents and an older sister obsessed with excelling at school and being 'normal'.

Then he discovered his parents' recently-built Ghost Portal, which wasn't working. His best friend, Samantha 'Sam' Manson, dared him to check it out. Donning a hazmat suit, Danny wandered into the Ghost Portal, and learned the hard way why it didn't work.

The 'on' button was on the inside.

Danny Fenton emerged from the Portal, with white hair instead of black hair, glowing green eyes instead of cerulean-blue eyes, and the powers of any 'Level 1' Ghost.

Danny Fenton became the world's first half-Ghost – Halfa – superhero.

Danny Phantom.

And with those powers, came villains looking to make Amity Park a crater.

Penelope Spectra. Ember McLain. Skulker. Undergrowth. Nocturne. Ghosts who decided that he would be better off as a_ full_ Ghost.

Vlad Plasmius. His arch-nemesis, bent on turning him against his father, and on making Danny and his mother Maddie join him. So bent is he on having Danny on his side, that he even sought to clone the adolescent superhero. But such endeavors were in vain; all but one melted into ectoplasmic goo if their powers were used in excess or if exposed to powerful ectoplasmic attacks. The sole surviving clone, Danielle, joined Danny's side and consequently flew away. And of course, Danny stopped that fruit loop's attempt to conquer the world by threatening to smash a Disasteroid into it unless he was made ruler. Danny last saw Vlad being smashed by his own Asteroid.

Valerie Grey. Danny's chief human antagonist. Valerie's life, accidentally ruined by Danny Phantom, found new motivation when 'Vlad' left her some Ghost-hunting equipment. Though her enmity towards Danny Phantom reached obsessive levels, she became friends with his alter-ego Danny Fenton and, when she discovered Vlad's dual identity, vowed to hunt Plasmius down if it was the last thing she did and accepted Danny for who he was after she discovered his dual identity when he save the world from the Disasteroid, even helping him fight Ghosts on occasion.

Dan Phantom. Danny's ultimate enemy. From a tragic alternate future where Danny's family and friends – and his teacher, Mr. Lancer – were killed in an explosion at a local Nasty Burger, Dan Phantom was born when Danny Phantom – Danny Fenton's Ghost half – was ripped from Danny, and subsequently ripped Plasmius from Vlad and merged with Plasmius. Imprisoned in a Fenton Thermos – their method of capturing Ghosts – after traveling back in time to ensure his own birth, he existed outside of time in Clockwork's care.

Until an Anti-Fairy stole it.

It is thanks to Danny Phantom that all citizens of the world realized that they were not just citizens of different countries, but also denizens of Planet Earth, bringing about a worldwide peace no politician could hope to do.

This was when he saved the world from Vlad's Disasteroid.

Around this time, Danny realized just how much his friend Sam meant to him. And how much he meant to her.

Really, how could he have been so clueless?

Around that time, Danny admitted his dual identity to his parents – and to the world – who accepted him as their son, forgetting their animosity towards the 'Ghost Boy' because he saved their planet.

Danny's best friend, Tucker Foley, became the next – and youngest – mayor of Amity Park (though he was voted out at the end of his first term), and made his first act as mayor the construction of statues of Danny Phantom throughout the world in the capital city of every country in the world, as a testament to the fact that thanks to Danny, they still had their world.

The Ghost Portal, which was destroyed in the Disasteroid incident, was rebuilt, bigger and better than ever.

Danny & Sam? They went steady through high school. Then, at their graduation ceremony, he proposed to her.

She said 'yes'. Vehemently. And with many tears of joy.

And now, they lay in bed, about to be woken up by an _unknown_ enemy.

_**---**_

Danny wasn't quite sure what woke him up, or even if it was his own imagination. Lying next to his fiancée, he strained his ears for any sounds that may have jolted him awake.

It was quiet.

_Too_ quiet.

Then he realized: the Ghost Portal's hum was absent.

Its presence was so ingrained into his everyday routine that its _absence_ had awoken him.

_Danny?_ said a female voice next to him. Danny turned to look into the amethyst eyes of his future wife, Sam.

_I don't hear the Ghost Portal,_ he told her through the psychic connection they had developed over the years. They didn't know where it came from, but attributed it to Danny's Ghost powers.

_Power outage?_ Sam asked.

_I don't think so_.

There was a collective moment of silence as the two of them listened for any unusual sounds.

_I was really stupid when I was fourteen, wasn't I?_ Danny asked.

Sam smiled at him. _And I wonder if walking into an activating Ghost Portal had anything to do with it?_

_Ha ha, very funny, Sam. You were the one who dared me to go in there. No, what I meant is, taking so long to notice your feelings for me. Before that, I was always drooling over Paulina or obsessing over Valerie's like-liking me (and not seeing past her obsession with destroying Danny _Phantom_). I'll bet Tucker was wanting to scream at us in frustration._

_Well, as long as we got together, right?_ Sam asked.

_Yeah._

_...So, what_ is _going on between Tuck and Val, anyway?_ Sam eventually asked. Danny never _did_ answer her question; they'd lost themselves in their love for one another before he could reply, and afterwards both had fallen asleep.

_Well, he's been saving up his Axion salary for about a month now..._ To get his point across, Danny looked pointedly at the engagement ring on Sam's finger.

_I gotcha_, she replied, smirking slightly. _He'd better buy it from the store, though; this ring means everything to me._

Danny couldn't help but chuckle aloud slightly, and at that exact moment the Portal rumbled back to life, and in roughly a second, they heard a voice screaming from down in the laboratory. Danny could only faintly hear what the voice was saying.

"AAAAAHHHH-HA-HA-HA! YES!! MORE POWER!! MOOOOORREE... POWEEEEER!!"

And whoever it was continued in that vein for a while.

Meanwhile, Danny heard his parents jolting out of bed down the hall.

"What's going on?" Maddie asked, sounding frantic. Danny could hear her scrambling about the room, undoubtedly looking for devices she and Jack invented for the capture of Ghosts.

"Is there a Ghost in the lab?" Jack asked no one in particular.

Danny chuckled to himself. _He's got Ghosts on the brain_, he thought to himself.

"That's what it sounds like."

"Get the Fenton Thermos 2.0, and--... Jazz, you have the Fenton Ghost Peeler?"

"When don't I?" came the voice of Jazz, Danny's older sister.

"Good. We got ourselves a Ghost to catch," said Jack. Then Danny heard a knock at his door. "Danny?"

"I know, Dad," Danny said. "I'm already up."

"Well, get some clothes on! We got a Ghost to catch!" Danny could hear the smile in his dad's voice. And feel the blush on his face.

His dad knew him too well.

He _was_ only wearing his undergarments. And Sam was, except for the engagement ring, wearing what she was born in.

"Right away!" Danny replied. "Going Ghost!" In a flash of twin rings of white light, a black hazmat suit formed around him, with a white neckline, white boots and gloves, and a white 'DP' symbol on his chest. His dark hair went white as snow, and his baby-blue eyes began glowing green.

Danny Fenton transformed into Danny Phantom.

Human transformed into Ghost.

Danny turned to look at Sam again. His dark angel. His love. His _life_.

_I'll be back_, he said to her.

_I love you_, she said. _So much._

He leaned down to her and pressed his lips to her, stroking her obsidian hair, letting her know the depth and the truth and the strength of his love for her.

_I love you too_, he replied as he felt her arms wrapping around his neck. After a few seconds, he went intangible, Sam's arms passing through his neck, and he phased down through the house into the laboratory.

The first thing he noticed was the figure hovering in the middle of the Portal. The cackling and shouts of "MORE POWER!" were deafening now, echoing endlessly against the spacious walls of the Fenton laboratory. It seemed to be sprouting wings.

The next thing he noticed was...

"_Vlad Masters?!_"

Vlad turned, startled. Apparently, he didn't see or hear him enter.

"Why, young Daniel," he said, straightening himself up. He sounded slightly shaky. "What a pleasant surprise."

"I could say the same," Danny said, hands on his hips. "I thought you died in that Disasteroid incident."

"Well, I survived. Or rather, Ray Packer survived."

"Well, that's you all over: subtle as a flying mallet. And now that you've officially come back from the dead, how'd you get here? And what are you doing with one of our Thermoses?" Danny pressed.

"_He_ teleported me here," Vlad said, gesturing towards the figure in the Portal. "And as for this Thermos, he gave it to me. And he was mum on the subject of where he got it from."

Then, as Danny's family – his parents and his older sister – ran down the stairs from the ground level of the house and into the lab, the person floating in the Portal did something even more shocking than reacting to becoming a Halfa with exhilaration instead of intense pain.

It back-flipped from the emerald vortex, trailing glowing-green ectoplasm, then landed on its feet in a feral crouch as it skidded to a stop in the center of the room, leaving black scorch trails from its feet on the polished-steel floor.

_Wow_, Danny thought. _I stumbled out of the Portal when that happened to me. How'd this guy do that?_

Now that it was out of the Portal, Danny could clearly see what he assumed to be the person's Ghost form. He – Danny assumed it was a 'he' – wore a black robe, with its black hood up, and a long black cape with a ragged edge that reached down to his feet, which were covered by black boots. What set it apart, though...

Were the glowing-green angel wings on his back.

Then the wings fully unfurled, reaching almost level with the top of Danny's head, and their color shifted to an ice-cold blue.

Then the figure straightened up. It was shorter than Danny.

"Who are you?" Danny asked. _Is my Ghost Sense on the fritz?_ he thought. _If I close my eyes, it's like he's not even there._

The figure turned to look at Danny. Now that it faced him, and its cape and wings didn't block its hands, he could see the black gloves that it wore. Claws seemed to extend from its gloves. And when he tried to make eye contact, Danny could see no glint of eyes or shape of a face under the dark hood.

Danny shivered involuntarily. He suddenly felt small and helpless.

"So... you are the Halfa that protects this helpless city?" said the shadowy figure.

"Umm... yeah." _Maybe I can get info out of him if I can get him to talk._ "So... who _are_ you?"

"I'm the third Halfa your father's foolishness created, Fenton," he said.

"I meant your name," Danny snapped.

"My name is of no importance," said the dark Halfa, in that cold emotionless tone. "All that is of importance is that you are standing between me and my way out."

And with that the dark Halfa threw his hand out at Danny and fired a steady blast of azure lightning from his fingertips, and Danny had barely enough time to raise his hands and generate a Ghost Shield before the bolts of spectral electricity reached him.

Straining against the lightning, Danny was stunned not just by the strength of this Halfa's powers, but also the focus and control he displayed. Danny himself, in his first day – indeed, his first few _weeks_ – with his powers, was very unfocused and would often fall through chairs or drop spoons and other objects _through_ his hand.

_What _is_ this guy?_ Danny thought.

Finally, Danny gathered up his strength, and, visibly straining to the observants of this conflict, forced the lightning back at the assailant.

But he wasn't there, and the lightning struck the Portal, sparking violently for a moment before settling back to its steadily swirling greenness.

The dark Halfa now hovered in the air over Danny, a swirling dark aura of energy about him.

It felt somehow different from Ghost energy.

"What?" cried out Vlad, causing Danny to look over. The Thermos wasn't in his hands anymore.

Danny looked up. The shadowy Halfa held it now.

"You think I'm that powerful without the powers of another Ghost at my beck and call?" he taunted, holding both ends of the Thermos in either hand. "Well, how about _now_?"

"No, don't!" Danny called; this kid, even though he had proven to be very powerful and focused, had no clue what he was dealing with, or what consequences could befall him if he broke the Thermos open.

Danny flew up to stop the dark Halfa, but it was too late. In a twist of both hands, the Thermos cracked in two in his hands like a toothpick. At that same moment, an unholy shriek rattled the Fenton laboratory, sending Danny hurtling back to the floor, leaving an indent in the steel floor.

And Danny felt his ectoplasmic blood chill as he looked up at the Ghost that hovered before the dark Halfa.

A Ghost he'd hoped to never see again.

Dan Phantom.

_**---**_

Phantom ceased his usage of the Ghostly Wail, looking around himself. He smirked evilly.

"Excellent," he said. "I'm free." Phantom looked down, and saw his weak past self Danny lying helplessly on the ground. His family stood dumbstruck nearby; they clearly hadn't seen him before.

"Hello, Danny. It's been a while," said Phantom. "I hope you realize the foolishness of leaving me in Clockwork's care. Now that I exist outside of time..." Phantom began to charge a lethal Ectoplasmic Energy Blast. "I have no fear of your death changing my past."

"Hello, Dan Phantom," came a vaguely familiar voice from behind Phantom.

_What now?_ thought Phantom, letting the Blast dissolve from his hand as he turned to face the one who had addressed him.

There hovered some sort of Grim Reaper knock-off with pale-blue angel wings.

"Haven't I threatened you before?" Phantom remarked. "You sound almost familiar."

"You mean, you don't recognize the one who'd been in possession of your Thermos for the past three years?" replied the grim Halfa in a mock-hurt tone. "I'm surprised at you, Dan Phantom."

"Wait! Whoa-whoa-whoa! Back up a little!" called Danny from below. "Clockwork said an Anti-Fairy – whatever the heck _that_ is – stole that Thermos!"

"Indeed," replied the grim Halfa. "Anti-Cosmo served his Master well. And I have come into possession of it. Now, Dan Phantom, I have a proposition for you."

Phantom turned to look at the Halfa, an eyebrow cocked. "I'm listening," he said.

"I shall help you destroy Danny Phantom, if you swear your allegiance to me," said the Halfa, raising his right arm. "If we combine our powers, we can surely annihilate the fools that hinder us!" At this point, a glowing-blue blade erupted from his hand, radiating an off-blue color around the room, creating shadows that crawled up the walls and along the floor.

Phantom ran a gloved hand through his flaming-white hair. _What do I have to lose?_ he thought. _I join forces with this guy, he helps me destroy Danny – a little – and then, once I get my hands on that cheese-head's Ghost Gauntlets, I rip his Ghost half out, merge with it, and get his powers. I think that Ectoplasmic Energy Sword would look good on me._

Phantom's expression turned evil. "Deal," he said, taking the grim Halfa's hand and shaking it.

_I'm glad you like my Ghost Sword_, said the Halfa's voice in Phantom's head. _I can also read minds._

Phantom's blood ran cold for an instant, but this was instantly stifled by a surge of confidence.

_So what?_ he thought. _I have thirty-five years of experience with Ghost powers. I doubt he even has ten minutes! I can mop the floor with him._

_Guess again, hot-head_, came the Halfa's voice again as he raised his right hand, and Phantom barely had time to register the fact that he really should have been careful with what he was thinking – and perhaps, made sure his overconfidence was justified – before a vortex of nothingness engulfed him, and Dan Phantom faded from existence forever.

_**---**_

Danny stared in shock at what had just happened. The dark Halfa had just raised his hand at Dan Phantom, and a dark tornado appeared in the palm of his hand, absorbing Dan Phantom completely.

Dan Phantom was gone, assimilated into another Ghost.

_Is that good or bad?_ he thought.

The dark Halfa looked down at Danny.

"How about now?" the Halfa said. "Think you can take me _now_? With all the powers of having Ghost powers for 35 years, and some of my own?"

"Now, now, people," said Maddie, coming between them, speaking for the first time since she'd come in to the lab. She sounded slightly shaky, and looked it too. "I'd rather you didn't fight in here. Me and Jack just got this place organized."

Danny looked around, and had to admit it would be a shame if all of his parents' hard work and all the money and materials they'd spent on all their Ghostly weapons and containment devices amounted to a single puff of black smoke.

Besides, the fighting space was rather small.

"Hmph," said the dark Halfa. "Very well, woman. We'll take this outside."

He raised his arms, and Danny was startled to see azure energy beginning to swirl around him and the Halfa. His parents and sister shielded their eyes from the glow. Danny braced himself, casting a spherical Ghost Shield around himself, clenching his eyes shut as he prepared for the worst.

When he opened his eyes, he gasped softly. He was no longer in the lab.

He was outside, standing in the middle of the street. The full moon shone down from the empty sky onto Fenton Works.

Danny looked around. _Where is that Grim Reaper knock-off?_ he thought.

_I'm up here_, came a testy voice from above, and Danny froze. Sam was the only person that he could communicate with in that way.

And that wasn't Sam's voice.

Danny looked up, and saw his enemy standing atop the Ops Center on the peak of his house, silhouetted against the moon. Blue energy crackled around his clenched fists.

Green energy gathering around his own clenched fists, Danny flew up to meet his enemy, who flipped into the air, his angel wings billowing in the wind, holding his hands out to either side.

Twin Ectoplasmic Energy Blades the color of the sky on a bright sunny day sprung from his hands as he flapped his wings and descended towards Danny like a meteorite.

"_Whoa!_" shouted Danny, stopping in midair and bracing himself and clenching his eyes closed again. Praying that he made it through this alive, Danny felt an airy feeling through his chest and midsection.

Danny opened his eyes and looked at his hands; he could see a faint outline of his arms. He was intangible. Looking down, Danny saw the last feathers of the Halfa's wings passing through his midsection. As soon as they were through, Danny went tangible again and, just as the Halfa turned to meet him again, he kicked him down to the street, leaving a crater.

The fight was on.

Danny flew down to meet the Grim Reaper knock-off, his fist raised to strike him.

But the dark Halfa was already up.

And Danny struck a large blue Ghost Shield taller than he was.

"Owww..." Danny muttered, floating away wearily as the Ghost Shield dissipated. "This guy's tough. Okay, Danny, do what you did when you first fought Plasmius: stop messing around."

And Danny flew down to face this mysterious Halfa again, green ectoplasmic energy building around his fists.

The Halfa vanished.

Danny stopped just over the asphalt, looking back and forth. "Hey Nazgûl, is your Ring already calling out to you?" he called out, trying to sound brave in the face of this strange enemy. This Halfa, whoever it was, was very powerful, and even very powerful Ghosts triggered his Ghost Sense over the years of being a Halfa. However – and this rather unnerved Danny – this enigmatic individual, in spite of his power which very likely exceeded any he'd ever faced, seemed to have no presence at all to him.

Suddenly, the Halfa appeared before him, swinging two Ghost Swords at him in a scissor-like motion. Crying out in surprise, Danny avoided the sneak attack narrowly. He felt one of the Ghost Swords graze his side, and an icy sensation that held the faintest vestiges of pain emanated from that region.

"Get away!" Danny shouted, firing an emerald Ghost Ray at the Halfa. As soon as the blast touched him, he disintegrated.

_A duplicate?_ Danny thought. _But he's been a Halfa for less than ten minutes. That's not possible!_

"Not _probable_, Fenton," came a voice in his ear, and Danny felt a pair of arms pinning his own arms to his sides, as another duplicate appeared in front of him, a Ghost Sword materializing from its hand.

_Okay, Fenton_, Danny thought._ You've been in worse scrapes before... Okay, you haven't. But how do I get out of this?_

"You can't," said the Halfa before him, lunging at him, the Ghost Sword pulled back for a deadly strike.

Danny willed himself to go intangible once more, and found himself passing straight through the restraining duplicate and, without even pausing to make a semi-witty remark about how easy that was, fired a Ghost Ray at both Halfas before him.

Both vanished.

"Wait a minute! Those were duplicates? Then... where's--..."

Then his world vanished as pain wrought its work upon his body. He found himself engulfed in a sphere of blue ectoplasmic energy.

And just as soon as he found himself inside it, the blue sphere of painful light about him vanished. The dark Halfa hovered before him again, two more balls of blue ectoplasm in his hands.

"Why are you doing this? I don't even know you!" Danny shouted as he dodged the two orbs, which expanded into ectoplasmic orbs ten feet across when they made impact with the ground where he was a split-second earlier, leaving spherical imprints in the asphalt. "I have no reason to fight you!"

The dark Halfa seemed to ignore these words, holding out his hand. Thirteen azure ectoplasmic orbs appeared around it.

Danny cocked an eyebrow.

The azure orbs launched at him with all the speed and determination of a cheetah on the _Benny Hill Show_.

Danny had no time to dodge the orbs, which struck him rapidly in the chest. Yelling loudly, Danny was forced into the side of Fenton Works, imprinting into the wall.

Opening his eyes wearily, and cynically wondering whether this guy was even tapping into Dan Phantom's power at all, Danny saw the Nazgûl knock-off holding his hands together, blue energy swirling around between them.

_I have a bad feeling about this_, Danny thought as an azure orb almost entirely engulfed the dark Halfa, steady Ghost Rays reaching out in random directions, ripping black scorch marks into the buildings around them and the street beneath them.

The blue Ghost Rays all shifted in his direction. Thinking quickly, Danny phased through the wall and into the room behind him. He watched as the azure energy passed straight through him and into the wall behind him.

_Danny?_ said a voice next to Danny. Danny saw Sam out of the corner of his eye, back in her normal attire.

He was back in his own room.

Danny looked at Sam.

Sam looked at Danny.

_Get out of here_, Danny told her.

_And leave you to get made into mince-meat by this guy?_ she replied. _Sure, and Tucker is gonna get pregnant. I told you when we got started, I'm no pushover._

_But this Grim Reaper knock-off could turn_ you _into mince-meat!_ he said. _He already took out Dan Phantom in a pinch!_

_Your jerky future self, you mean?_ the Goth girl turned paler than normal; that was no easy fight for Danny. Even though she did not see the battle royale between past and future, she did know he could not go Ghost after the battle was finished, he was so weak.

_I know. And he already seemed very powerful. ...Please, Sammy. Do it for me. I can't lose you._

Sam seemed to be waging an internal battle for an instant. Danny let her sort through her thoughts herself; he didn't want her to feel like she was being forced to run and hide.

That was the last thing she'd want to do.

_...Okay_, she said. _But only if you don't call me 'Sammy' anymore._

Danny smirked. _Gotcha_, he replied, as he turned and flew back out through the wall (going intangible first, of course).

The dark Halfa was nowhere to be found.

"If you want to fight me so badly, why don't you--..."

Danny let out a shout of shock and pain as an electrical feeling shot through his body. The dark Halfa floated down into Danny's visual range. White lightning emanating from his fingertips.

A glowing-white ring passed his vision, and he felt gravity taking over.

He was human again.

"What? NOOOOO!" Danny screamed as he fell to the ground, cold wind whipping against his bare back – he was only in his underwear when he went Ghost. He clenched his eyes shut, fearing the inevitable. There were no flagpoles to save him this time.

Then he felt a force holding him a few feet off the ground. Thanking whoever liked him up there for saving his life, Danny opened his eyes... and quickly took it back.

The dark Halfa stood before him, a Ghost Sword on one side of his neck. Looking around, Danny saw seven other duplicates around him, forming a circle of azure blades of white-hot ectoplasm at his neck.

And he was too weak to go Ghost again.

"Pathetic..." said the dark Halfa. "I guess I overestimated you; however, if I could defeat your alternate future self so easily, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

"But this isn't right!" Danny shouted. "You're gonna kill me when I have no way of fighting back? That's not a fair fight!"

"I don't care," was the icy reply.

_So this is how it ends? With a Halfa I don't even know about to kill me?_ Danny thought as the eight hooded figures around him brought their Ghost Swords back to strike him with eight different swings, each of which would end his life on their own.

And then...

"Leave my cousin alone!" came a vaguely familiar shout, as a green Ghost Ray blasted the Halfa before Danny in the side, knocking him unceremoniously to the ground. The seven doubles around Danny, along with their Ghost Swords, vanished.

Danny looked in the direction of the call, and gasped in astonishment.

"Dani?"

_**---**_

"Who's that?" asked Jazz, watching the fight through the window with her parents, her soon-to-be-sister-in-law, and a man interested in her mother.

"Remember that female clone of Danny I told you about?" said Sam. "That would be her. She was created by _this_ fruit loop," she continued, pointing at Vlad with her thumb, "And thought he needed Danny's DNA mid-morph to stabilize her. He really just wanted it to perfect his own clone of Danny. She defected to our side, and gave Vlad his just desserts."

"In other words, she turned traitor to me," Vlad said bitterly.

"You better watch what you say about family, Vlad," said Jazz testily, holding up the Fenton Ghost Peeler, "Or you'll find I'm quite good at ripping Ghosts apart molecule by molecule."

"Ahhh, Jazzypants, you really are your father's daughter," said Jack, ruffling his daughter's hair. Jazz felt her cheeks burning.

Vlad kept quiet.

"Anyway," Sam continued, "She came back about a month after Vlad became mayor, and got stabilized even though Vlad wanted to study her ectoplasmic remains to find out how to create a stable cloned son of Danny." Sam gave a sly smile outside. "It's nice to finally see her back."

_**---**_

"Dani! You have no idea how glad I am to see you!" Danny said, forgetting all inhibitions as he ran up and embraced his 'cousin'. She looked much like he did, but with a more feminine look. "Where have you been for five years?"

"I was off training," she replied, "And protecting anyone I could find from any sort of supernatural attacks."

"Really?"

"_Really _really," she said. Then she smiled. "Looks like you were in a real hurry to fight this guy."

"What do you--... Ohhh." Danny recalled vaguely that he went Ghost without changing into more appropriate clothes should his Ghost mode somehow be compromised.

Dani frowned. "I saw that guy you were fighting. Who is he?"

"I have no clue, but he's a Halfa, like you and me," Danny explained. "He just showed up in the lab with your 'father'--..." Dani grimaced noticeably "...--somehow turned the Ghost Portal off, turned it back on, and became part-Ghost."

"You're slipping, Danny. He can't have been a Halfa for more than a few hours."

"And that's the thing! Even before he absorbed Dan Phantom--..."

"Who?"

"My evil self from an alternate future, I'll explain it later. Anyway, even before he absorbed Dan Phantom and his powers, he was giving me a run for my money. _He's wiping the floor with me!_"

"I bet that stinks," Dani said.

"If you don't mind me asking, why'd you come back? Not that I'm not glad to see you."

"Well, I thought I'd introduce myself to your folks. I read in the papers that you proposed to your little girlfriend," Dani said, smirking.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Danny said in false anger. Then he added, with a sly grin, "...She's my fiancée."

"So, are we gonna talk about old times, or are we gonna kick some butt?"

Danny smirked. "I'll go with the second one, as always." Feeling re-energized, Danny went Ghost, twin white rings transforming him from Fenton to Phantom in a flash.

He turned to look at the dark Halfa as he too got back up.

His hood fell off, but he quickly reached up and brought it back up.

But that brief glimpse of what lay underneath was enough to elicit a gasp from Danny and Dani.

A black brain with glowing-blue creases. And nothing else.

_What _is _he?_ Danny thought.

The dark Halfa looked from Dani to Danny, to Dani again, and said in a mocking tone, "Two-on-one, huh? This may even the odds a little..."

"Yeah! You're going down... whatever your name is!" Dani said.

"I may not be able to use my magic while in this form, but I don't have to. I am powerful enough without it."

"Magic?" said Danny and Dani simultaneously.

And he held his hand up, and Danny had a feeling that he and Dani would be better suited to keep moving in this fight.

"MOVE!" Danny shouted, and it was a wise move, because a blue beam as wide around as Danny was tall blasted into the area where they were standing just moments ago. The car it struck detonated, sending scraps of metal and glass and a strong smell of burning gas everywhere.

_Jeez, and I have to use_ two _hands to do that_, Danny thought, slightly panicky. Windows began to open, and people began to watch the fight.

"Careful of this guy, Dani! He packed a punch before, but he didn't even act like he was trying. He could probably level Amity Park if he wanted to!" Danny said, before covering his mouth in dismay.

"Hmmmm... I could do that," said the dark Halfa. "But it would be too easy. I'll spare it for now."

"We won't give you a chance!" Danny said, firing a Ghost Ray at the dark Halfa, who brought his hand up and deflected the Ghost Ray.

The observers booed the dark Halfa, and began chanting Danny's name: _"Danny! Danny! Danny!"_

"Danny, are you sure you can trust Danielle?" the dark Halfa asked of Danny.

_Just because she worked for Plasmius doesn't mean she hasn't seen that she was misled_, he thought, not afraid if the Grim Reaper knock-off heard him or not. _If he's trying to turn us against each other, he's got another thing coming!_

_**---**_

Dani and Danny flew at the dark Halfa, coming in from either side as they fired Ghost Rays from their hands. The dark Halfa just faded away, reappearing overhead.

"Danielle, are you certain you're not jealous of Danny?" asked the dark Halfa.

_Why, because he has a significant other and I don't?_ she thought. _So what? I can find one on my own, thank you very much. Far off and no cigar, creep!_

_**---**_

"You'll never separate us, Ghost!" Danny and Dani shouted in unison.

"Really? Then how about _this_?!" shouted the dark Halfa, flinging blue ectoplasmic goo from his fingertips. Caught off guard, Danny was slammed into the wall. Danny strained against it, but even though he had five years' experience as a Halfa, he couldn't break through it. He could only watch as the dark Halfa raised his hand and fired a steady Ghost Ray at Dani, who set up a Ghost Shield with both hands. In his heart of hearts, Danny did not want the Ghost Shield to endure.

He wanted _Dani_ to endure.

If she endured, so did the shield.

_Please don't crack under pressure, Dani_, he thought. The dark Halfa must have heard his thoughts, because the Ghost Ray suddenly flared brighter and grew thicker. Dani did not begin to crack under pressure.

The Ghost Shield did.

Eventually, the pressure and intensity of the Ghost Ray got the better of Dani Phantom as her Ghost Shield shattered and – Danny clenched his eyes shut again – the dark Halfa's azure Ray completely engulfed her, a scream of shock and pain emanating ephemerally from where Dani was standing. When it cleared, the observants silenced immediately.

Danny refused to open his eyes. He refused to accept the inevitable. He refused to accept that Dani was...

"Pathetic," the dark Halfa's voice said. "I'd have turned her into a giant blueberry and let her explode, but I couldn't use magic in this form. Besides, the end result is virtually the same."

Anxious to see what had become of his cousin, yet fearful at the same time, Danny slowly opened his eyes.

There was a puddle of green ectoplasmic blood on the ground where Dani was standing less than a minute ago.

She was gone.

Danny felt fire burning in his heart.

"You..." he hardly even recognized his own voice. Bringing his arms up, a crimson ring flared out around him, ripping through the ectoplasm holding him to the wall.

"You MONSTER!!" he roared, firing crimson Ghost Rays from his hands at the dark Halfa. The dark Halfa, caught off guard, was knocked back by the blasts, straight through the wall and into the living room of Fenton Works. Danny, no thought going through his head but that Dani's death be avenged, came down on the dark Halfa without mercy.

"Danny?" said a soft voice that always calmed Danny when he was a baby, a voice that he'd always gotten comfort from every time he woke up from a bad dream, a voice that consistently reassured him of unconditional love.

His mother's voice.

Danny looked at his mother, who was currently giving Danny a frightened look. Danny saw a mirror across the room, and saw the reason for her fright.

He nearly failed to recognize the young man he saw in the reflective surface. His eyes were burning like embers, a crimson aura burning around him. His face seemed hardly human, as contorted with rancor and hostility and hatred as it was.

Horror at what he was becoming, and the love of his family, brought Danny Phantom back from the penumbra of evil that day.

Danny watched his reflection return to its normal appearance as a Ghost and his mother's face lit up with relief.

"Hmph. Such love will not last," said the dark Halfa, not watching the scene.

Danny looked over. "Oh yeah? Well, love for my family kept me from becoming evil, like that crazed-up cheesehead Vlad."

"Daniel? I believe I'm standing right here," said Vlad hotly.

"Love hurts," said the dark Halfa acidly. "That's why I do not love. Why I _can_ not love. And evil? What is evil, but a point of view? Just because you believe that Vlad is evil, doesn't necessarily nullify anyone else's point of view if they disagree in the slightest."

"He's trying to get to my mom! _That's_ evil!"

"From your point of view," countered the dark Halfa. "But from his point of view, he is merely following his heart's desire. And you are blocking him from making that dream a reality."

"You killed Dani! That's evil too!"

"From your point of view."

"Not that it matters. I mean, she will come back as a full Ghost… won't she?"

"Actually Daniel," Vlad interjected, "I have hypothesized, based on my observations and experiments on test animals that were infused with ectoplasm, that half-Ghosts live their lives and afterlives simultaneously, so when they are killed in either human or Ghost form--…"

"They are erased from existence completely," interrupted the dark Halfa.

_He _knew_, and he still killed her?_ Danny thought heatedly. _He really_ is _a monster._

"Now, I think that we have said enough. I have done what I came here for: I have acquired Ghost powers, and I believe I've made a sufficient enough display of my powers to distance you from me and my plot."

"Plot?" Danny and Vlad asked together, before glaring at each other.

"You'll see, Plasmius. Now, take my hand once more," said the dark Halfa. Danny watched as Vlad warily grasped the dark Halfa's hand and, with a gasp of shock from his family, the two evil Halfas vanished as if they were a mirage.

Danny, no longer feeling that his family – or Sam – was in any danger, reverted from Ghost to human in a flash of two white rings.

For several minutes, no one moved or said a word. No one knew what to say. Outside, they heard the sounds of sirens and the rumble of people chattering about the chaos that had just unfolded as they slept.

"Well, at least we made it out alive?" Jazz said nervously, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, everyone except Dani," Danny muttered darkly. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Danny?" Sam said.

"I know I could have saved her," Danny said, raising his voice slightly. Eventually, he could not hold it in any longer. "_I know I could have! I could have if I was stronger!_"

"Danny, there's nothing anyone could have done," Sam said, walking up to Danny and putting her hands on his shoulders. "We had no way of knowing that guy was even so powerful."

Maddie agreed. "Or that he'd even go so far as to..." She cleared her throat instead of continuing.

"She said she was my cousin," Danny said, as if going off on a tangent. "But we acted like we were closer, even if we only knew each other for a couple days, and spent some of that time on bad terms because cheese-head was lying to her or trying to rip her apart. She was practically the little sister I never had." At this point, the grief for Danny was too great, and he collapsed to his knees, tears rolling down his nose and making minute dark blotches appear on the carpet.

"Danny?" Danny heard Sam's beautiful voice in his ear and felt her delicate hand soothingly stroking his back. Almost unaware for a moment, Danny stood back up, still sniffling slightly.

Sam shushed him softly. "It's all right, Danny. It'll all be all right."

And as Danny felt Sam's hand along his back, gently caressing it, he gradually felt his self-directed anger and pain ebb away. Though the pain of Dani's loss was still there, it was no longer incapacitating.

"Thanks, Sam," Danny said, slyly going intangible and slipping through her arms, then becoming tangible again so that he could catch her in his arms.

"You know, if we ever have a little girl, we could name her Danielle," said Sam, flushed at how close they were.

Danny smiled. "Not Lilith?" She'd always wanted to name her future daughter Lilith.

Sam paused for a second, then smirked slyly. "Danielle Lilith Fenton, then?"

"I'll hold you to that," Danny said, before their lips met.

* * *

"That was impressive, Tom," said Vlad. "Most impressive."

"Indeed it was," said Anti-Timothy, a pair of rings of nothingness appearing about his waist, splitting off and transforming him from his Ghost form back into his human disguise. _How disgustingly like Turner I look_, he thought.

"I offer you my compliments for destroying that traitor Danielle. How did you do that?"

"I merely overloaded her defenses," Anti-Timothy replied simply. "It was excessively simple, if I may say so myself." _Too simple. Perhaps _you'll_ pose a challenge to me one day. But I doubt it._

"Hmmm..." Vlad stroked his chin thoughtfully. Anti-Timothy heard him thinking, _He_ would _make a good apprentice._

"And you would make a good master," he replied, startling Vlad.

"Oh yes. The telepathy," Vlad said, scratching his head.

Anti-Timothy let out a chuckle, playing the 'Tom' character well. "Master Masters," he murmured, eliciting a chuckle from Vlad Masters, who still looked slightly put-off from the mind-reading.

_Of course he would, the pathetic human_, Anti-Timothy thought. _It is such an uncommon gift amongst humans – and even other magical creatures – the ability to communicate mentally. These fools think so loudly; they may as well speak and never think. Pathetic Fenton, always thinking so loudly about his plan of attack. But as long as my archnemeses always think so loudly, I will never be caught off guard, and I will emerge victorious in my quest to bring everlasting peace and prosperity to the universe._

_**---**_

And so over the next four months, Vlad taught Tom everything there was to know about Ghost powers, the Ghost Zone, and its resident Ghosts. It took Vlad far longer than anticipated – considering Tom's unnatural affinity for his Ghost powers – since Tom seemed to want to know more from Vlad than Vlad himself knew. But still, if it produced a new apprentice who could eventually win Maddie over to his side, then Vlad was quite keen to give Tom what he could.

He even helped Tom to finesse his Ghost powers and even his strategies in battle. Often they would engage in one-on-one fights, where Tom would keep his telepathic abilities to himself. With no way of knowing what his opponent's next move would be, Tom would become noticeably more predictable. He may have had 35 years of knowledge of Ghost powers in his mind - along with some of his own – but he lacked the 35 years of experience that Dan Phantom may have had. Vlad had a quarter of a century's worth of knowledge _and_ experience, and would often barely emerge as the victor in their practice fights.

"Don't let your losses get to you, Tom," Vlad said after one session. "If you do, you will grow bitter from defeat after defeat after humiliating defeat, and you'll make a crucial miscalculation that could spell doom in battle – whatever battles you may face back home."

Vlad was concerned for Tom's attendance at school and sought to enroll him in a local school for the while he was learning new things about Ghosts, but Tom insisted that he remain in the castle as much as possible.

"I never attended school," Tom said one day. "I never even met my mother and father. I raised myself. I taught myself. Everything I know, I learned by myself. With no help whatsoever from any poorly-funded educational system or having to do the high-school-level homework of some sadistic teenage babysitter. I am vehemently against breaking my self-learning streak now – apart from the knowledge of Ghosts, that is."

_**---**_

Finally, the day came. Vlad knew it was coming; he was scraping the barrel of things Tom didn't know about Ghosts in general as it was these past few days.

But it was the big day.

There was nothing more Tom had to learn from him.

He had summoned Tom down to his lab for the first time he could remember. He made sure to look as impressive as possible for this impromptu ceremony. So, he transformed into Vlad Plasmius just for this occasion.

Tom walked through the door into Vlad's lab. His face remained as stolid as ever, but Vlad had a hunch that he was impressed by his lab.

"Thomas Martini, I believe I told you to dress accordingly," Vlad said cannily.

Tom didn't even blink. With a mere thought on Tom's part, twin rings of nothing appeared around his waist and transformed him into his Ghostly alter-ego.

Thomas Nihilus.

"That's better," Vlad said. He eyed Tom's pale-blue angel wings. "I've always wondered how you got those."

"What, these?" asked Tom, fingering a feather of his right wing. "Well, I'll tell you, after I find out what this is about."

Vlad cleared his throat. "Now Tom, it is my honor to tell you that... there is nothing more you can learn from me. You have the skills and the experience to survive in... whatever bad situations you may find yourself in. You are now a fully fledged Halfa."

Tom just stood there silently for a few seconds.

"Umm... Go?" Vlad said, slightly concerned. "Perhaps, tell me why you have wings? Do whatever you want to do?"

Five minutes later, Vlad would look back and wish that he didn't say that.

For Tom raised his hand and fired a blast of spectral lightning at Vlad who, caught off guard, got the full blast of it.

And transformed from Plasmius to Masters.

_What? NO!_ Vlad thought. _What's he going to do?_

_Only what I have to do_, said Tom's telepathic voice in Vlad's head as Tom raised his hands, revealing the Ghost Gauntlets that he must have somehow teleported onto his hands, then, before Vlad could, he found the Ghost-gripping claws being thrust into his stomach.

Though Vlad felt nothing but mild discomfort, he heard Plasmius screaming in pain in his head.

And with a violent tug to either side, Vlad Masters and Vlad Plasmius flew apart into separate corners of the room.

Vlad Masters looked numbly over at Plasmius, who lay against the wall opposite him, apparently too shocked by what had happened to register what had happened or even to move from where he was.

Then Vlad looked up and saw Tom Nihilus holding his hand out at Plasmius, and saw a miniscule point appearing in his hand that seemed to distort everything around it. Plasmius opened his eyes, which subsequently widened in alarm, and he tried to fly away as quickly as possible, but he was fighting a losing battle and Nihilus absorbed him and his powers into his fist.

"Thanks for the help, 'Master' Masters," said Nihilus in a mocking tone. "I would not have been able to tap into Dan Phantom's thirty-five years' experience with Ghost powers without your help. Thanks to your training, I have learned how to absorb your _experience_ as a Ghost in addition to your powers. Now, thanks to you, I have _sixty_ collective years of experience as a half-Ghost. For that, I thank you."

"But... why, Thomas?"

"_Do not call me that infernal name!_" snarled Nihilus, blue energy crackling in his hands. "_You have no right to refer to me by that name!_"

"Then, what should I call you?" Vlad asked, trembling, feeling very vulnerable without his Ghost powers.

"Master," said Nihilus, as twelve other duplicates of his Ghost form appeared on either side. "And perhaps, you'd like to know why I have wings in my Ghost form?"

Vlad nodded timidly.

"Well, you'd have wings in your Ghost form if you were an Anti-Fairy, too."

Vlad was not a stupid man, and once he was able to put two and two together, his blood ran cold.

_Have I just helped that Master Anti-Fairy I've been hearing about?_ Vlad thought, feeling like a fool.

_Indeed you have, fruit loop_, said the Master Anti-Fairy in Vlad's head, holding a hand out to his side. In a flash of black energy which Vlad didn't recognize, he saw a familiar-looking crown appearing in the Master's hand.

Vlad froze; it was the _Crown of Fire_.

Setting the Crown on his head, duplicates of said piece of mystical headwear appeared over the heads of the duplicates, and Vlad saw an unholy aura of green Ghost energy appearing around the thirteen Ghosts before the dozen doubles vanished into their host, who vanished himself shortly afterwards.

_What a fool I've been_, thought Vlad.

* * *

Anti-Cosmo saw the dark, hooded figure with that crown engulfed in green flames appear before him, daring to seat itself in the Master's throne, its majestic, azure angel wings folded behind its back.

"I say, that's the Master's throne, and it would do you good to--..." warned Anti-Cosmo, holding his obsidian wand in his silver hand, stopping when he saw a pair of empty haloes phase around the dark hooded figure and reveal...

"Master!" Anti-Cosmo flung himself to his knees. "Please forgive my lack of respect!"

"Very well, Anti-Cosmo," said the Master.

"Where have you been these four months, Master?"

"I've been... around. Picking up new powers here and there."

"Did the angel wings have anything to do with these 'new powers'?"

"Indeed they do. I am now a freak of nature compared to an Anry. A Halfa."

"A Halfa?" Anti-Cosmo looked disgusted. What was the Master getting at, becoming first an Anry, then a Halfa?

"Quite. But I shall elaborate later."

And then the Master asked the question that, considering the Master's complete and utter opposition to the concept of Timmy & Trixie getting together, made Anti-Cosmo's blood run cold.

"So tell me, what has happened in Dimmsdale these past few months since my resurrection?"

* * *

(**Note:** I can tell this chapter will polarize a lot of people. A lot of things happen in this that may not go over well with some people. Such as Dani's death and the focus on action in this chapter. But these will all have relevance later on.

Okay, so Dani's death may seem superfluous, but you gotta know how evil Anti-Timothy is, no matter how good he says he is. That, and my explanation of the pros and cons of being a Halfa (immortality, but cessation of existence if killed) is a sign to everyone that there will not be a miraculous resurrection of Dani later on. Don't get me wrong, I like Dani, but I suppose a lot of people liked Aerith in _Final Fantasy 7_ before Sephiroth killed her. This is practically the same thing; even Danny's lines about his fingers tingling and his eyes burning is almost verbatim from Cloud's response to Aerith's death.

I also decided to include Danny & Sam's psychic connection, that Butch Hartman was originally gonna have in the series. He removed it because he wanted Danny to be more unique, and felt that the psychic connection would have stepped on Danny's 'uniqueness'.

Okay, enough going off on a tangent. Don't worry, next chapter will be back in Dimmsdale, four months since we last saw Timmy & Trixie. And what has happened in those four months? Well, we'll see. And as for Gigglepies? Sorry, but it ain't gonna happen. I never saw that particular episode, and are only mentioned to display Anti-Timothy's widespread deception.

And as for anyone still confused, Anti-Timothy was 'born' during the episode 'A Mile in My Shoes', where Timmy wished he was Cosmo & Wanda's Fairy GodParent. They became replicas of Timmy (with their respective hair and eye colors), and he got a crown, a wand, and wings, be trixie (lol, sorry, had to slip in a _Fairy Idol_ reference). But Timmy can't use magic right to save his life; he takes all night (literally) to properly poof into a fish with _gills_. After a tough day in each other's lives, Cosmo & Wanda wish that they were Timmy's Fairy GodParents again, and that he was a kid again (technically making Anti-Timothy Cosmo & Wanda's only Unwished Wish).

I also slipped in a reference to one of the films AnnaSophia Robb, Danielle Fenton's voice, previously worked in. See if you can find it! Also, see if you can notice anything special about the name 'Tyte' Thomas Martini.

I shall continue this whether people continue to say good things about this or not! May the Force be with you all!

**Notice Added 7-24-06:** A little bit of sad news for you folks. I have summer work to do for my English class; it's 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', and I have to do a TON of work on it. I'll come back when I'm finished on that. Sorry!

**Edited 11-11-06:** Added a little more description to Anti-Timothy's Ghost half. Also, Danny calls him a Nazgûl knock-off.

**Edited 5-19-07:** Following my viewing of _Phantom Planet_, the _Danny Phantom_ series finale, I noticed that there were some things that contradicted events in the original version of the chapter. So I had to rewrite several portions of it. I want to keep this consistent with the unfolding events of DP and with the upcoming 20 new eps of FOP.)


	12. Chapter 11

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom, or the characters herein. Also, I attribute Danny & Sam's psychic connection to Butch Hartman. The characters I do own are Rudy Reed, Sammy Tang-Hope, Anti-Juandissimo, Anti-Timothy, Samuel Hope, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Tang-Hope, Anti-Cupid, Theobald Tang, and Melody Victorson. I also own certain elements of existence as a Halfa, such as immortality and living one's life and afterlife simultaneously. You can borrow these traits, though.)

**_HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
_by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 11: Together At Last  
**

Anti-Cosmo looked distinctly uncomfortable at the Master's question. His powers giving him a sense analogous to touch, Anti-Timothy felt Anti-Cosmo's heartbeat spike like a demon's head. He also felt Anti-Cosmo's panic burning through him with all the intensity of the hair-fire of an enraged Bodacian.

"Well, you see -- uh, that is--..."

"Never mind, Anti-Cosmo," said Anti-Timothy coldly. Honestly, Anti-Cosmo was more like his counterpart than he said he wasn't. "I'll see what's happening now and see what's stayed the same since four months ago."

Anti-Timothy raised his hand, and an image appeared before him, showing Turner lying in a hospital bed.

* * *

"Well, Mr. Turner," said the doctor, a warm smile on her face, "your leg is fully healed. You're free to walk freely on it, but don't over-exert yourself. Get used to walking on that leg first."

Timmy felt a bolt of happiness strike him that was more powerful than any felt by any man since, roughly, the birth of the universe.

"Thanks, Doctor," Timmy said, gingerly testing his leg on the floor. "Can I keep the cast?"

The doctor smiled. "Sure," she said, handing him the two halves of his leg cast. Timmy smiled softly down on the signatures from Tootie, Chester, Sammy, AJ, Rudy, Elmer, Sanjay, and his parents. But the signature _Recover quickly, my love_ filled his heart with a light, weightless feeling every time he looked at it.

He'd been permitted to leave the hospital on crutches about a week after he was brought in.

A week after him and Trixie revealed their love for one another.

He insisted, though, that they not go on dates while his leg was in its cast. He had said that it would make "the consummation less risky".

Now, he could go on a date with her.

---

Trixie sat in the chair in the waiting room, dimly aware of the fact that she was sitting in the same chair that she sat in four months ago when Timmy was first brought in. Dimly aware of the fact that Timmy's parents were waiting just next to her. Dimly aware of the fact that her parents were there as well.

Dimly aware of almost everything.

Except one thing.

Timmy was fully recovered today, and they could go steady.

She watched the door that lead to the hallway that branched off into the varying rooms where the many patients underwent surgery and anesthetics and the like, and then the door opened up, and out walked the young man whose very presence in the same room unlocked Trixie's chest and opened her heart.

She breathed again.

Timmy looked at Trixie and made eye contact with her, and she saw the reassurance of his love for her in his eyes as he turned to his parents and said, "Mom, Dad!"

"Timmy!" they said, embracing their son in a crushing hug. Trixie sighed to herself as she watched Timmy's mom kissing him on the forehead. Her mom never showed her that sort of affection.

Trixie felt her mother's glare as she watched the Turners.

Timmy pulled away from his parents slowly with an "Excuse me," then turned to face Trixie whose soul sung as they embraced. After a brief but passionate kiss, they settled into each other's body with her murmuring love into his shoulder while he murmured love into her silky black hair.

Trixie heard her mother scoff. Over Timmy's shoulder, she saw her mother had her nose upturned, her arms folded in an aloof manner.

"So... Where do you want to go on our first date?" Trixie asked him awkwardly. She was so conditioned in how to behave like a popular girl that she was now unsure as to how to behave when faced with asking an unpopular boy out.

And Trixie thought Tad and Chad legally removing the boundaries separating the popular from the unpopular would make it all easier.

---

It had happened just two days ago. The Mayor was just concluding a speech about how he _will_ make public safety a priority in this term as Mayor.

_That's what he said five years ago_, Trixie had thought cynically.

Then the Mayor summoned the popular kids up to the stand in front of City Hall, and Trixie could not have helped but wonder, _What is this all about?_ as she and Tad, Chad, and Veronica walked up to the podium.

It turned out that Veronica stayed in bed for a week and a half after she found that Trixie's mother had begrudgingly allowed Trixie to go out with Timmy. Ever since she resumed contact with the real world, Veronica had taken to pretending that Trixie wasn't even there, and would not even respond to Trixie if she tried to talk to her or if someone tried to talk to her about Trixie.

Trixie suspected that they now had a mutual hatred for each other.

"Don't worry," Tad had said to Trixie as they made their way up to the podium with Chad and Veronica. "It's nothing bad."

"What is it, then?" Trixie had asked.

"You'll see," Tad had replied mysteriously and with such a sense of finality that Trixie didn't persist.

And when a tense silence had followed Tad's stepping up to the microphone, Trixie knew it was very important, as there would normally be a swell of cheering and applause and praises towards the most popular kids in Dimmsdale.

"People of Dimmsdale, the rumors you have been hearing about Trixie Tang are true!" Tad had said into the microphone.

"You mean her parents are really cousins?" said a random voice from the crowd.

Tad had paused for a second. "...Nnnnno, she isn't," he'd said, "Though that is more a rumor about her parents. No, but apart from the very absurd rumors, everything you've been hearing these past four months is true."

The crowd had gasped.

"You mean she really reads comics, watches _Crash Nebula_, and sneaks out dressed as a boy to see action movies?" another random voice had said.

"Yes, it is true," Tad had responded, eliciting another sharp intake of breath from the crowd, "And the rumors that she is in love with Timmy Turner, the pink-hatted, buck-toothed, least popular kid in Dimmsdale, and he with her, are also true." Tad continued over the crowd, which was now conversing amongst itself, and they gradually quieted down. "And because of this, we have come to a decision." Tad had looked over to Chad, Trixie, and Veronica here, and Chad nodded, Trixie felt herself smiling, and she saw Veronica out of the corner of her eye pouting and avoiding eye contact.

"Trixie went through tremendous strain from hiding her feelings from someone with less popularity than she had. To prevent such an occurance from happening again, I hereby declare the boundaries separating the popular from the unpopular, the rich kids from the poor kids, officially _null_!"

In both the crowd and in Trixie's mind, there was a sense of numbness as they processed what they heard and recognized it as what they really heard.

Then, the crowd - and Trixie - had gone wild.

Trixie found herself embracing Tad as happiness sang in her mind. She could not recall how many times she thanked him, and Veronica had disappeared again when she finally pulled herself off of Tad.

As soon as she was finished with the news reporters and the paparazzi and the scuttlebug that the dissolution of the popularity system caused throughout Dimmsdale, Trixie had gone to visit Timmy once more. By this point, his abrasions and cuts and varying injuries had amounted solely to a cast over his right leg, and he sat on the couch in the living room with Cosmo & Wanda floating overhead.

"Mom & Dad finally decided that I can stay home without Vicky babysitting," he'd explained.

"I thought things were a little quiet in here," Trixie had replied.

There was a brief pause between the two young lovers.

"I was watching the news," Timmy had said simply.

"You were?" Trixie had asked, turning to look at him. "So I suppose you know what Tad announced?"

Timmy had nodded.

"I think it was a good move," Wanda had said, "Since I doubt you two are the only two people who feel so strongly for each other that are separated by class."

"Yeah!" Cosmo agreed. "And now you two can go wherever you want!"

---

"Well...," Timmy said slowly as Trixie brought herself back to the present, "How about the _Chaussure d'Amour_ down the street? That's really romantic."

_The Chaussure d'Amour?_ Trixie thought, shuddering inside. _Sure, and Mom really loves me._ "Hmmm... I was thinking some place a little more casual," Trixie said, "Like, say, Shirley's Original Evil Pizzeria?"

"No way, Trixie!" said Beatrix, sounding more than a little angry. "I'm not letting my own daughter go to such a mundane restaurant!"

Trixie turned to look at Beatrix, and for a second she barely knew her own mother. "Well, I'm not going alone, _mother_. I'm going there on a date with the boyfriend _you_ approved of."

And without waiting for a rushed and ill-thought-out reply that she would not have agreed with in the first place, Trixie walked out to eat with her new boyfriend, hand in hand.

* * *

"Y'know, I'm kinda responsible for Shirley even existing," Timmy said to Trixie as they stood outside Shirley's Original Evil Pizzeria.

"Really?" Trixie asked.

"Yeah, me and Jimmy Neutron--..."

"Who?"

Cosmo & Wanda poofed up over Timmy & Trixie.

"You remember the kid with swirly, fudgy hair?" Cosmo said.

"Oh yeah! I saw him when Shirley put us all in Retrodimmsdaleville." Trixie paused for a second. "Man, it's weird remembering all this stuff that you had to wish I didn't remember."

"And we're sorry we had to do it, Trixie," Wanda said. "After all, we _were_ your Fairies for a while."

"It's all right, Cosmo, Wanda," Trixie said. "You guys are the greatest."

Cosmo & Wanda smiled.

Trixie looked at Timmy.

"So, how did he come to exist?"

"Huh? Oh yeah!" Timmy had nearly forgotten about what he was talking about. "Me and Jimmy were fighting our arch-enemies, but they were too easy to beat with us working together. So we created him as the ultimate villain that would be a challenge. But I mistyped 'adoptable' as 'adaptable', and he adapted his sadness into rage when we dumped him. He tried to destroy us and both our dimensions while keeping the things he liked in Retrodimmsdaleville."

"He took me there, too."

"Really? I didn't see you there. But anyhoo, we managed to make him adapt away all his powers and apologized to him, and he started this pizza place."

After a pause, Timmy said something to ease Trixie's nervousness around someone who tried to destroy their world. "He's really a nice guy once you get to know him."

"Don't worry, Timmy. I trust you," Trixie said, lacing her fingers with Timmy's as she took his hand and they stepped into Shirley's Original Evil Pizzeria.

"Why, hello there!" said an amiable voice from the counter, belaying the bulky blue armor and crimson head-flame and razor-sharp teeth and evil mustache of Shirley. "How might I serve--..." Shirley gasped as he saw Timmy, Trixie, Cosmo, and Wanda. "Mommy!" he shouted happily at Timmy.

Trixie gave Timmy a strange look.

"Mommy?"

"Guess I forgot to mention that," Timmy said as his cheeks burned slightly with embarrassment. "He called Jimmy 'Daddy' before he went back to Retroville."

"And Grandma and Grampa!" said Shirley, now looking at Cosmo & Wanda. "What are you all doing here?"

"It's not a little family reunion, if that's what you're thinking," Timmy said slyly. "I'm taking Trixie here," Timmy put his arm around Trixie's shoulder, "On a date, and I was wondering if--..."

"You could have some deliciously evil pizza? Sure!" Shirley said smiling as a pizza emerged from a slot in his chest and landed on a tray, already cooked to perfection. "Would you like some deliciously evil pepperoni with that?"

"What do you think, my sweet?" Timmy said to Trixie.

"Of course," Trixie said, and a thin metal tube emerged from one of Shirley's shoulder pads and fired several slices of meat onto the pizza.

"Now...," Shirley said as he handed them the pizza, "ENJOY!" He suddenly beared his teeth and gnashed them together as the ruby flame on top of his head flared angrily.

Timmy didn't budge - he had put up with this many times before - and whatever shock Trixie must have felt, she must have kept bottled up.

"Seriously, enjoy," Shirley said as they sat down with their pizza and began to eat.

For a few minutes, they sat and ate in silence. Cosmo & Wanda poofed elsewhere to give the two young lovers some privacy.

And intimacy.

Timmy couldn't help watching Trixie as she ate her slices of pizza. He knew that if anyone from before the dissolution of the concept of popularity ever found out that Trixie ate finger food as though she were just "a commoner", she would have been stripped of her popularity in a heartbeat.

_Thank goodness she didn't_, Timmy thought.

Then he spoke up.

"So, how did you lose Cosmo & Wanda?" he asked.

Trixie looked up from her pizza, a quizzical look on her face. "I can't say it out loud," she said, "Because I don't want to risk you losing Cosmo & Wanda."

"Well, could you write it down?" Timmy asked, holding out a napkin. He called over to the counter as Trixie took the napkin, "Hey, Shirley! You got a pen?"

"Will an evil pen do?" asked Shirley as he threw the pen over to them, where it clattered onto the table between them. Warily, Trixie took it and started writing with it. The pen cackled evilly as she wrote.

Trixie handed the note to Timmy, who read the writing _I said that I didn't believe in Fairies in that 'Return to Neverland' play_. Fortunately he did not say it aloud, since he recalled what happened to Vicky when she was five years old and temporarily obtained Cosmo & Wanda as Fairy GodParents and was tricked into saying _I'm happy and don't need Fairy GodParents anymore_.

"That's weird," Timmy said. "Mom and Dad went to see 'Titanic: The Director's Cut' the very next night--..."

"So did mine!" Trixie blurted out.

"That's freaky! What are the odds of that?" Timmy uttered. "But anyway, it's weird that I got Cosmo & Wanda the day after you lost them."

"Mm-hmm," Trixie nodded her agreement, "It's pretty ironic."

"And you're not ironic, but pretty," Timmy said flirtatiously, before scowling.

"What's wrong?" Trixie asked.

"Just a bunch of nightmares that some Anti-Fairy jerk kept putting in my head the past five years," Timmy said. "In every nightmare, I wish that we - apart from Cosmo & Wanda - were the last two people in the universe."

Trixie had a look on her face that suggested a feeling of being underwhelmed. "That doesn't sound so bad, actually," she said.

Timmy blushed slightly, "Well, not really, but not like in the nightmares. The Trixie in the nightmares wanted the equivalent of the attention of hundreds of boys - and kept on asking and asking and asking to be told that she's pretty!"

"Well, I don't need to ask you," Trixie said slyly, "You'd do it without a problem."

"I know, but he must have been controlling my mind, because I started... well, not wanting to, and he made me want to break up with you!"

"I hate that Anti-Fairy already," Trixie said, scowling. "What else did he do?"

"He made the Trixie in my nightmares attack me like a psycho! First she attacked me with a buzz saw, then a lawn mower, then a tennis ball machine, and then a helicopter! It's a good thing that the missiles were sold separately."

"I _really_ hate that Anti-Fairy now!" Trixie said, a really angry look on her face now. "I can't believe he would try to make you think I don't care so deeply for you!" Her expression softened slightly, and the absence of her eye make-up suddenly struck Timmy. "Do you have a name for this guy?"

"No, he didn't say," Timmy said, "But I can guess. Have you ever heard of the Master Anti-Fairy?"

"...No," Trixie said after a moment, "The name doesn't ring any bells. From what I remember, the Anti-Fairies were very chaotic when I had Cosmo & Wanda. No government at all."

"Well, he's been causing trouble by existing at all, and Cosmo & Wanda haven't even been back to Fairy World in three years."

"Yikes! I hope they get back home soon..."

"If they do, then we can have some 'alone time'," Timmy suggested, "Without worrying about people poofing in on the fun."

Trixie giggled at Timmy's forwardness, and his heart jumped into his throat. Her laughter was like music to his ears.

"I love it when you laugh," he said without thinking.

"Not as much as I love your eyes," Trixie said, leaning over the table towards Timmy. Slowly, they closed the gap over the table and the pizza and their lips met once more.

---

Shirley watched his Mommy and that popular girl whom he knew vaguely kissed after having a long talk.

_Are they mating right now?_ Shirley thought as they kissed. _I don't know much about human anatomy, but that's what it looks like. I _love _these kids! I sure hope Mommy and his girlfriend are happy together. I'm sure any brothers and sisters they make for me will be adorable!_

* * *

Anti-Cosmo watched the Master warily as he waved his hand nonchalantly and made the image fade away. The Master may have used his powers to hide his identity from his fellow Anti-Fairies - really, where was his pride? - but his expression was unreadable.

"Uhh, Master--...?"

"Please leave the fortress, Anti-Cosmo." The Master's voice was flat and droning. "And evacuate all Anti-Fairies within a five-mile radius to a safe distance." Anti-Cosmo saw the Master's left eye beginning to twitch.

An eyebrow cocked, Anti-Cosmo warily raised his wand and sent the message _run for cover_ to every Anti-Fairy in a five-mile radius of the fortress. He then anti-poofed out of the fortress and appeared beside Anti-Wanda a great distance from the Master's castle.

"What's happenin', hun?" Anti-Wanda asked as she took a bite out of a sandwich she held in her feet.

"I'm not sure--..."

"Oh my puny muscles! What is that?" screeched the miniscule Anti-Jorgen, pointing towards the Master's castle. Several gasps from the crowd behind him drew Anti-Cosmo's attention to the castle.

His jaw dropped.

Blue blasts of some unusual energy were blasting their way out of the throne room in various directions, tearing straight through the walls and towers and battlements of the Master's assumed-to-be-indestructible fortress.

Through his monocle, the blasts were green.

_So the Master is indeed a Halfa now_, Anti-Cosmo thought detachedly.

Then the blasts stopped, and they wondered if it was over.

Then Anti-Cosmo saw a blue fireball blasting out from the very peak of the fortress, where the Master's throne room was.

One second later, the sound of a primal shriek of unrestrained fury reached Anti-Cosmo's pointed ears.

_Master?_ Anti-Cosmo could not help but be concerned for his leader, who had brought order and hierarchy to an otherwise anarchy-cursed race of dark magical beings.

The blue fireball looped around and rocketed for the fortress at a speed approaching terminal velocity, natural fire blossoming around it upon re-entry. Involuntarily, Anti-Cosmo felt his arms raising themselves in a protective stance and his eyes clenching shut as the Master crashed straight through his fortress, an unearthly crumbling, crashing noise reaching their ears just a second later.

Wind whipped into the Anti-Fairies.

Along with a rancorous roar.

Anti-Cosmo dared to open his eyes, and gaped at the sight before him.

The once-towering structure that the Master had called his fortress was now a smoking pile of rubble.

Then, before Anti-Cosmo - or, he assumed, any other Anti-Fairy - had even fully comprehended what they saw, they all were anti-poofed against their wills into a location just over the heart of the rubble.

Anti-Cosmo's heart skipped a beat.

_But how? How could he possibly still be alive after that?_ Anti-Cosmo thought.

A clawed hand emerged from the rubble, and Anti-Cosmo and several Anti-Fairies hovered down to investigate.

Suddenly, the Master burst out of the rubble, his clothing in shreds as he raised his arms in defiance before the cloudy, smoky sky. His hat crumbled into ash and blew away in the wind. He seemed to be breathing with a rasp.

"They...," he hissed, his voice raspy as well as he spoke to no one in particular, holding his wand like a sword, "Will pay. Turner and Tang, you both will pay for your disobeisance."

"Master," Anti-Cosmo was numb with shock, "Your... heart."

Anti-Cosmo could see, instead of the Master's bare chest, a rather large hole _straight through his chest_, shaped rather like an upside-down heart with spiky protrusions to either side.

The Master turned to look at Anti-Cosmo as though he'd just noticed he was there, and Anti-Cosmo felt the Master's barely-controlled rage in addition to his own subconscious urge to be somewhere else.

_Anywhere_ else.

The Master then looked down at his chest, numbly noting the hole straight through his chest, and looked up at Anti-Cosmo again, "I have been like this most of my life, Anti-Cosmo. Without a heart."

"But how have you--..."

"I'm not even entirely sure myself, Anti-Cosmo," the Master replied. "Not many people that I have researched were capable of existing without their heart. I seem to recall reading about an organization of individuals like me some centuries ago, but that is for another time. For now..." The Master raised his upside-down-star wand, and his shredded clothes were instantly replaced with pure-white replacements, a silver stripe around the base of his crown-hat.

"For now...," the Master hissed, "We lay low. We pretend that I have passed on, and pretend that we are no longer a threat. Pretend we preach only anarchy and bad luck once more. Our enemies will drop their guards... And when the time is right, we crush them!"

Anti-Cosmo felt some semblance of his old devilish smirk returning to his face.

* * *

(_the following is a transcription of an entry in the Daily Crown that was posted following a sharp surge of dark magic from the Anti-Fairy World, followed by the collapse of the Master Anti-Fairy's hidden fortress; the article has been verified by the Daily Crown as genuine_)

**THE MASTER ANTI-FAIRY IS _DEAD!_**

In a stunning turn of events, _writes Anry correspondent Michael Field_, the Master Anti-Fairy is believed to have perished in Anti-Fairy World.

Anti-Fairy World, the name chosen for Fairy World Prison after it was stolen by the Anti-Fairies, has remained on the outskirts of Fairy World for three years now. The sheer power of the Master Anti-Fairy, as I myself have reported when I first discovered his existence, has forced all Fairies to cut off contact with the human world, effectively stranding all Fairy GodParents on Earth for the duration of the crisis. War-time measures not seen since the Fairy-Yugopotamian Conflict 20,000 years ago were brought into enforcement when the Master's hostile intents were made clear. A ceasefire that lasted the past three years followed.

Commander-in-Chief of Fairy World, Jorgen von Strangle, described what he felt to me when I interviewed him, "Me and my muscular muscles could feel a sharp surge of dark magic all the way from here to Xanadu! And when I felt it, I knew that the Anti-Fairies would resort to their former chaotic - but harmlessly puny - ways. No Anti-Fairy of the Master's power could have simply turned into Anti-Fairy dust at death; he had to _explode_, like a Bodacian going through cardiac arrest! Now that this terrible situation is over, we can finally get along with our lives. Even my muscles are extremely happy for this!" says von Strangle.

"I am extremely happy for this!" says von Strangle's left tricep.

When questioned about whether the war-time preparations would be dropped, Commander-in-Chief von Strangle was rather quiet.

"Things will be back to normal shortly," he says. "Now _stop asking me puny and stupid questions!_"

This is Michael Field saying, things are definitely back to normal.

(_transcription ends_)

* * *

(**Note:** I know, I know, this isn't nearly as long as the past two chapters, but I just got to realizing as I wrote this that this chapter was more of a 'setting-things-up' chapter than a 'big-things-happen' chapter. Those will come up a few more times later on.

And as for the phrase "'Tyte' Thomas Martini", don't bother Googling it. I'll give you a pretty big hint: it's an anagram. I think that a clever person could figure it out from there.

As for how Trixie could have lost Cosmo & Wanda in late 2001 when _Return to Neverland_ came out in early 2002, think about how rich Trixie's family is. Trixie's father could have paid her way into seeing an early screening, and wrote a play based off of that. That's how I see it anyway.

This will be the last update for a while. This time tomorrow, I'll be on a vacation with my family in Walt Disney World, and Grandma is coming with us. It'll be great! They added characters from the _Pirates of the Caribbean_ movies into the ride!

May the Force be with you all!)


	13. Chapter 12

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom, or the characters herein. Also, I attribute Danny & Sam's psychic connection to Butch Hartman. The characters I do own are Rudy Reed, Sammy Tang-Hope, Anti-Juandissimo, Anti-Timothy, Samuel Hope, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Tang-Hope, Anti-Cupid, Theobald Tang, and Melody Victorson. I also own certain elements of existence as a Halfa, such as immortality and living one's life and afterlife simultaneously. You can borrow these traits, though.)

**_HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
_by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 12: 'Tyte' Thomas Martini**

And so, nearly two years passed since Timothy Thomas Turner & Beatrix Elizabeth Tang the Second - in addition to Dorothy Nicole Victorson & Rudolf Richard Reed - began going steady.

Nearly two years since the Master Anti-Fairy's "demise".

And much had changed in those near-two years.

For one thing, Timmy ditched the silly pink hat, finally - which necessitated a new hiding spot for the engagement ring he'd wished for eight years ago.

Timmy & Trixie had gotten into their relationship relatively late, so in the time they still had before they became too old to hold on to Cosmo & Wanda, they sought to know each other as though they had become a couple sooner.

Basically, making up for lost time.

As such, they now knew each other better than they could have dreamed while they were two lives living apart.

Also on the subject of people being separate, with the distinction between the popular and the unpopular - the hip from the square - the rich from the poor - now null and void in Dimmsdale, Trixie took to dressing in the more tomboyish apparel she'd worn years before while sneaking out to indulge herself in the then-unpopular activities ranging from collecting comic books to buying video games to eating at fast-food restaurants, to reflect her true personality.

A red hat, baggy mauve pants, and a purple sweater.

Timmy loved her regardless of what she wore. And she him.

Tad and Chad had always seemed to be apathetic snobs in all the time that Timmy had been separated from their crowd by the boundaries of popularity. Now that said boundaries were nonexistent within the boundaries of Dimmsdale, Timmy had gotten to know them to be quite nice, to say nothing of their willingness to watch the soap operas that he so covertly enjoyed. Chester, AJ, Elmer, and Sanjay were somewhat more reluctant to warm up to the former Most Popular Boys In Dimmsdale - since Tad and Chad had let their bodyguard loose on them on more than one occasion - but in those two years had accepted them as though they had _all_ been friends since preschool.

Rudy & Tootie's relationship, though awkward initially - Rudy had gone five years pursuing her in a way that was eerily akin to Tootie's pursuing Timmy's affectations - had become nearly as powerful and as intimate as Timmy & Trixie's. At least that could be surmised; they spent much of their time together behind locked doors.

Sammy had lost Cindy as a Fairy GodParent just a week ago. It was her 18th birthday. Both her and Chester - with Cupid's newest Rule still in place - had lost all memory of Cindy, magic, and Fairy World.

Cosmo & Wanda were immensely happy to return there when they heard the ceasefire between Fairies and Anti-Fairies had... well, apparently ceased.

"The cold war between Fairies and Anti's is over?" Trixie had asked as she read the news article in the _Daily Crown_.

"For now," Wanda had replied, "But we can only hope the Anti-Fairies _stay_ in anarchy this time."

Timmy & Trixie had over these past two years as boyfriend & girlfriend become the one human couple who went on the most dates in Fairy World. Often double-dating with their Fairy GodParents.

However, Cosmo & Wanda would soon be returning to Fairy World for a while.

Timmy Turner's 18th birthday was fast approaching.

His Lastday with Cosmo & Wanda.

The day he and Trixie would lose them, and their memories of all their misadventures, forever.

It took a fair bit of persuasion to convince Jorgen von Strangle not to take them away on _Trixie's_ 18th birthday.

"But I was the one they were assigned to!" Timmy had argued. "It doesn't make sense that, just because Trixie just turned 18, that I should lose them! Cosmo & Wanda mean almost as much to me as Trixie! _Please_ let me keep them a few more months!"

"Hmmmmmm..." Jorgen had put a finger to his highly protrudent chin. Not many people stood up to him. "It is only a few months. Very well. You shall keep Cosmo & Wanda until midnight on your 18th birthday. At that point your's and your puny girlfriend's memories of them will be removed forcibly from your puny, non-muscular heads. NO EXCUSES!!"

Trixie was ecstatic that Timmy would risk severe injuries for her (no Fairy can kill anyone, because it is against Da Rules). Cosmo & Wanda were very touched by Timmy's actions.

Unfortunately, one half of Timmy Turner would not lose his memories of these misadventures.

Or all Turner had done.

Anti-Timothy, Master of All Anti-Fairies - and, confidentially, the Lord of the Unwishes - would have his revenge soon.

* * *

"Timmy!" Timmy's mom called up the stairs. "Vicky's dropping off her daughter who looks oddly like Chip Skylark so you can babysit her!"

Timmy groaned. He finally got out of the frying pan...

Just to fall into the fire.

"And you and Dad will be going where?"

"Why, to uhhhhhh..." Timmy's mom said.

Timmy's dad butted in and shouted "See-you-later-Timmy-we-love-you!" up the stairs before he and his wife bolted out the door to the car to go to wherever _this_ date would take them.

Sighing wearily, Timmy picked up his cell phone, and dialed in Trixie's number.

_"Hello?"_

"Trixie, bad news."

_"What is it, my love?"_

"I have to babysit Satan's granddaughter."

_"Who?"_

"Icky-with-a-V's little girl, Melody."

_"You mean, _Malady_?"_

Timmy & Trixie shared a laugh at Trixie's pun.

_"...I'll be right over."_

"What?"

_"Don't argue, Timmy. I'll never let you suffer while I sit back and read comics. If you suffer, so will I."_

"...I should stop trying to tell you not to put yourself on the line for my sake."

_"I seem to remember you telling me that you would do the same for me. And you already did, didn't you? With Jorgen?"_

"Oh yeah."

_"Well, see you in a sec."_

"I love you."

_"Love you more."_

Timmy hung up his cell phone.

Trixie - along with Cosmo & Wanda - appeared in Timmy's room in a poof of pink smoke.

"So, where is the little demon?" Trixie asked.

_KNOCK KNOCK_

"Hey twerp! Time for _you_ to do the babysitting!" came a very familiar and very evil voice.

"Twerp!" came a very young-sounding version of that same voice.

"I'd wager that's them," said Timmy, walking downstairs with Trixie following (Cosmo & Wanda returned to their fishbowl on Timmy's desktop).

"So, why can't one of the robots you made in college watch after her?" Timmy asked Vicky darkly.

"I don't believe asking that question is in the job description, twerp," Vicky replied hotly. "Now, if your little girlfriend would just leave--..."

"I'm not leaving Timmy," said Trixie, clasping Timmy's hand in hers.

Vicky's eye twitched, then a malicious smirk crossed her hard features. "Oh well. Misery loves company. So does Melody here."

"More evil to spread!" said Melody, that familiar ruby glint in her eyes.

She was certainly her mother's daughter.

"You said it, Melody," said Vicky, planting a kiss in her daughter's raven hair. "Have fun with these two, Melody!"

"I will, Mommy!" said the sadistic four-year-old.

No sooner did the door close and Vicky drive away than did Melody start bawling.

"I'M HUNGWY!" she screamed. "MAKE ME SOME MAC 'N' CHEESE!"

"Okay okay," said Timmy, slowly backing into the kitchen, Trixie following him. "Don't get your ponytail in a knot."

Cosmo & Wanda appeared in the kitchen as Melody whined in the other room.

"I wish I had some macaroni and cheese," Timmy whispered.

_POOF!_

A bowl of said Italian cuisine appeared in Timmy's hands.

"Hope she's happy with this one," muttered Timmy, walking back into the living room to give the Vicky-spawn her food.

Melody smiled.

"Thanks!" she said.

_Here it comes_, Timmy thought.

"I'M NOT HUNGWY! AN' I _HATE_ MAC 'N' CHEESE!" Melody screamed, throwing the bowl of cheesy pasta at Timmy. Macaroni and cheese splattered all over the babysitter.

Of course, Timmy knew better than to complain. He'd been through this before.

Even with Trixie _and_ Cosmo & Wanda here, this would be a long day.

A mushroom cloud appeared between Timmy and Melody, and even as Melody pointed at the figure that stood there, she was suddenly encased in a block of ice.

"TIMMY TURNER!" came the heavily accented shout of Jorgen von Strangle, the very muscular Commander-in-Chief of Fairy World, who stood exactly where the mushroom cloud had originated.

"Aww, now what?" Timmy moaned.

"I am summoning you and your puny girlfriend and Fairies to watch... AS I SINK THE UNWISH ISLANDS BENEATH THE WAVES!"

"...Why?" Timmy & Trixie asked simultaneously.

"Even the puny brains of your smartest humans are bound to notice a pair of islands floating in the Bermuda Triangle - one of which is the shape of one of your puny human skulls, the other of which is the size of YOUR PUNY STATE ALASKA!" Jorgen bellowed, raising his grossly oversized wand. "DESPERATE MEASURES MUST BE TAKEN!"

In a cloud of nuclear smoke, Timmy, Trixie, Cosmo & Wanda, and Jorgen appeared floating over a pair of islands in the Bermuda Triangle. One was indeed shaped like a skull. The other - the country of Tibecuador, which Timmy had wished into existence to make his wished-for older brother Tommy seem more credible - was enormous by comparison.

"We cannot risk your puny adult humans discovering the continued existence of magical creatures!" said Jorgen, raising his wand high into the air, the star on the end glowing like a miniature sun.

There was a terrible, deafening silence as the magic began its work.

There was a terrible, deafening noise as Unwish Island and Tibecuador sank beneath the waves.

There was a terrible, deafening silence as the magic ended its work.

"Uhhh, Jorgen, why did we need to be here to see this?" Trixie asked.

"And you could have just poofed the Islands beneath the waves," Timmy added, "Instead of just sinking it like that."

"I _LIKE_ TO SINK UNWISH ISLANDS!" Jorgen shouted in reply. "We cannot risk your Unwished Wishes winding up in some cave underneath the Atlantic Ocean or the Caribbean. Although there are Kraken at those depths, many of your particular Unwished Wishes could make CHOP SUSHI OUT OF THEM! This way, there exists the possibility that the Unwished Wishes will drown, and will not pose a threat to us later on.

"And thus, I return to my bath," Jorgen finished simply, a rubber ducky appearing in his hand, his normal camoflauge uniform to be replaced by a towel around his waist. Vanishing in a mushroom cloud, Jorgen returned to Fairy World and sent the two couples back to the Turner household.

Melody was still frozen, pointing at nothing.

"Y'know what?" Timmy said, sitting on the couch, "I'm not gonna wish she's unfrozen until Vicky comes to pick her up."

"So we can spend some time together?" Trixie said flirtatiously.

"I think we have a date somewhere else, Cosmo," Wanda suggested.

"Do we?" said Cosmo obliviously. Giggling to herself, Wanda just grabbed his arm and poofed off with him and a "You, me, bedroom, now."

No sooner did the older magical lovers poof off than the young human lovers lost themselves in each other.

There would not be any prying eyes for a few hours.

* * *

But the Unwished Wishes did not drown, nor did a Kraken devour them nor did the weight of the water crush them into pulp.

Their Lord saved them.

The Unwished Wishes were in the process of constructing a Fortress for their Lord and Master; if he used his magical powers - or even his phantasmal powers - to too great an extent, he would risk revealing his continued existence to Fairy World and thus losing the edge that he now held over all other magical creatures.

Then they heard crashing water.

"The Fairies are sinking us beneath the waves! Curses!" swore one Unwished Wish named Dark Laser, who was quite muscular and wore the suit of a dark overlord. "Sorry you had to hear that, Flipsie," he said, addressing the toy dog sitting innocently on his shoulder.

"Sinking below the ocean," said Imaginary Gary, who had his hair slicked back coolly and wore the sorts of clothes that the stereotypical 'cool' kid would wear. "Not cool."

"Ohh, Super Toilet," snapped Super Bike, who resembled a centaur, but with a motorcycle in place of the horse body, with white plating covering much of his body.

Sphinx, even though it was never Unwished, roared in protest.

The Tibecuadorians cowered in fear, many shielding their eyes in fear.

The waves crashed down over the submerging islands.

Anti-Timothy (on temporary leave from his status as Master Anti-Fairy, leaving the duty to Acting Master Anti-Cosmo while he "conferred with his allies the Yokians in the tridimensional universe") said nothing. He merely raised his hands around him as if he could block the waves with his very hands, and a tremendous shield of energy - with hexagonal lattice throughout - specifically devised to be undetectable and invisible to any magical creature encased Unwish Island and Tibecuador and the water bounced harmlessly off as the two islands of nonexistent beings sank beneath the waves.

The Unwished Islands wound up in a cave beneath the Atlantic Ocean.

In spite of Jorgen's magical acumen, Anti-Timothy overrode Jorgen's plan to see to it that the Unwish Islands would become new underwater attractions; and so a cavern at the very base of the Earth's crust, heated by the proximity to the white-hot magma just one-thousand feet below, became the new home to the Unwished Wishes and their Lord Anti-Timothy.

Within minutes of the averted catastrophe, the Unwished Wishes gave a cheer for their savior.

And construction resumed on the Fortress That Never Was, Never Is, And Never Will Be.

And after a while of just floating over his fellow nonexistent ones, presiding over the construction of his absolute stronghold...

"Dark Laser!" said Anti-Timothy, turning to the unwished cyborg.

Dark Laser genuflected before his master, setting his beloved dog toy, Flipsie, on the ground in a similar pose beside him. "What ist thine will, my Lord?"

"Rise, Dark Laser," said Anti-Timothy, his ivory cape billowing in a nonexistent wind. "Dark Laser, from the wholly objective perspective of your role as Fitness Supervisor of the Unwished Wishes, are you maintaining your robotic limbs, taking good care of them? Ensuring that they are ready for our eventual rebellion against all creation?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Is Imaginary Gary doing the very same?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Super Bike?"

"Yes."

"The Sphinx?"

"Yes."

"The Tibecuadorians?" Anti-Timothy cut to the chase.

"Uhhhh," Dark Laser hesitated, clearly frightened of Anti-Timothy's suspected reaction. "No, my Lord. They're slowing up in the construction of your new fort."

"So I've noticed." Anti-Timothy thought insults directed towards the Tibecuadorians too derogatory and horrific to be printed here.

"Tell me, how can these fools expect our uprising against Fairy World to succeed if they constantly take breaks, and consequently allow their muscles to degenerate into useless fat? How can we expect to survive in those situations, however rare, when our other abilities are compromised? How, may I ask?"

"Uhhhhmmmmmmm... they can't?" said Dark Laser as he shrugged and grinned nervously.

Anti-Timothy willed himself to re-appear over the countless Tibecuadorians, toiling and sweating as they worked to build the Fortress.

"_Get to work, you worthless scum!_" snarled Anti-Timothy, going Ghost and forming an azure ectoplasmic whip in his hand. Any Tibecuadorians whom he even thought to be slowing up even an instant he gave a harsh crack on the back to instigate him or her into working harder again.

And the fact that they all looked like dark-skinned versions of Timmy Turner at age 10 - regardless of age or gender - made it so much easier to abuse these lesser Unwished Wishes.

But now, he planned to have his revenge on Timmy Turner. He would plant himself into the city and pose as an innocent human, pretend to befriend Turner, and then - when Turner least expected it - he would destroy him and his little girlfriend.

Sending a telepathic message to Anti-Cosmo to prepare to remain Acting Master of All Anti-Fairies over the next couple weeks, ensuring that the Tibecuadorians would not slack off in his absence, and repeating his slogan of "The Will of the Unwishes before the Will of the Unwish" and offering his variant of the Unwish salute, he vanished to Dimmsdale to make certain his vendetta.

* * *

"Melody, Mommy's back!" Vicky said in that same false-sweet voice that fooled Timmy's parents into believing her to be an innocent babysitter.

Melody, long since thawed out, started bawling the instant her mother walked in the door.

Timmy sighed heavily. Such was the routine as usual.

"MOMMY, THEY WAS MEAN TO ME AN' THEY MADE ME EAT SMEHWY FOOD AN' THEY MADE ME CWEAN THE TOIWET WITH MY HAN'S AN' THEY JUST SAT AROUN' AN' DID NOTHING!"

"Aww, Melody, don't cry," Vicky said, in a voice that barely contained her malice, as she reached down and picked up her wailing daughter under the arms and rested her on her shoulder, patting her back. "We don't have to pay these twerps for their services, if they can call their abuse 'services'."

As Vicky turned to leave with the hiccupping Melody clinging to her mother's arm (Melody sneered at them over Vicky's shoulder), Trixie looked like she would open her mouth in protest. Timmy swiftly nudged her in the side.

"Don't," Timmy hissed to her as Vicky walked out the door, "I made that mistake already, and I have the scars to prove it."

"Ohh!" Trixie said, her eyes widening in comprehension. "That explains the... ahem."

Then Trixie's eyes narrowed slightly, her expression strained as if to recall some distant memory, and she leaned forward slightly, as though she were examining some miniscule feature on Timmy's face.

"What?" Timmy asked.

Trixie put her hand on Timmy's cheek, slowly turning his head from side to side.

"You remind me of someone I saw before," she said, almost to herself.

Timmy wasn't expecting this. "Huh?"

"It might have been one of your old wishes."

"Well, the only ones I can think of that looked like me were Gary and Tommy, the older brother that I wished for."

"Oh yeah! I saw him - Tommy - once; Tootie was chasing after him for a while. You _do_ look something like Tommy, now that I think about it."

"I do," said Timmy, looking at himself in a mirror, "apart from the bucked teeth. I sound like him, too."

"You _do_ know I only wanted to be near Gary so I could be near you, right?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah! I do."

"You're cool to me, Timmy. You're always so cool to me, Timmy."

Trixie smiled softly at him, and Timmy smiled back, and he lost himself in Trixie's eyes.

Those eyes.

Those perfect, beautiful cyan eyes...

"Let's go see him."

"What?" Timmy shook his head, snapping out of his trance.

"Let's see Tommy, wherever he is."

"Sure, if you want to," Timmy said. "Seeing as I started taking those self-defense classes from Peten a few months ago, Tommy'd probably be proud of how I turned out. How he 'influenced' me," he added, eliciting a chuckle from his girlfriend. His heart fluttered, and he said, "Cosmo, Wanda!"

_POOF POOF_

Cosmo & Wanda appeared overhead.

"What is it, sport?"

"Did you two get--..."

"Shh!" Timmy said. "Not now, Cosmo! Me and Trixie have a wish to make."

Wanda smiled, "Anything, Timmy, as long as you take care not to break Da Rules!"

"I wish me and Trixie could see my wished-and-then-unwished older brother, Tommy Turner!"

Cosmo & Wanda raised their wands happily...

_PFFFT_

...and the wands sagged and made a farting noise.

Timmy's heart sank. He assumed Trixie's did, too.

This meant that, somehow, Cosmo & Wanda could not grant the wish.

"Lemme guess, it's against Da Rules, isn't it?" Timmy said, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Well, actually not," Wanda said, poofing up Da Rules book to make sure she was not mistaken, "but according to section E, subsection E, amendment H, the only situation when one can't visit an Unwished Wish is if the Unwished Wish has been... 'destroyed outright'?" Wanda raised an eyebrow herself.

"What?" Timmy & Trixie were shocked.

"I know. Even if he drowned (which seems to be the case, after what Jorgen did to the Unwished Islands), we would have been able to find him floating beneath the waves. Not just that, but Unwished Wishes don't destroy easily, since they don't exist in the first place."

"So how do they... exist, per se?" Trixie asked.

"I don't really know. I'm not one, so I can't say. Rumor has it there are, or were, strange creatures of the twilight some centuries ago that..." Wanda trailed off, and gave Cosmo a vaguely withering look; he'd been playing with rather creepy puppets ever since Wanda poofed up Da Rules book.

"Sorry!" he said, hiding them behind his back.

"What could destroy Unwished Wishes outright?" Timmy asked, almost fearful.

"Well, another Unwished Wish, for one," Wanda continued; Cosmo simply began flying in loop-de-loops. "But it would have to be a very powerful Unwished Wish to do that. Not to mention a weapon that can be used either to save the world or to wreak chaos and ruin on it, but that weapon hasn't been seen in this universe since the time of pirates on the high seas, when the world was threatened by creatures of darkness."

"What weapon?" said Timmy & Trixie, genuinely curious.

_KNOCK KNOCK_

"Timmy!"

"We're back from... somewhere!"

Timmy's parents had returned.

Trixie said, "I gotta go! I love you." She kissed him swiftly on the cheek.

"I love you too," he said as Trixie and Cosmo & Wanda vanished in a trio of clouds of pink smoke.

Timmy's parents walked in the front door just moments later.

* * *

Next day, Timmy & Trixie were walking through the mall, talking with Tad and Chad. Rudy & Tootie were once in their party, as were Sammy & Chester - AJ was busy applying for jobs, Elmer was finally having his boil lanced, and Sanjay was spending the day with his step-brother - but Sammy & Chester left to enjoy some time together at the movies, and Rudy & Tootie went off to eat at the Nasty Burger together.

"I never thought you guys were honestly rooting for me and Trixie all this time," Timmy said to Tad and Chad.

"Well, you have to be a good liar to do what we did," Tad said.

"And be a good faker, too," Chad added. "We had to pretend we didn't know you or all the other former unpopular kids existed even when we were just talking to Mom & Dad; the only person who knew we supported you two as a couple was Veronica, and even she didn't know at first."

"We only told her when we realized that she knew how you felt for Timmy, Trixie."

"Of course, it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do."

"Why not?" asked Trixie.

"She ended up telling your mom the day Timmy was hospitalized," Tad replied.

Trixie thought about that for a few seconds. "Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Tad and Chad gave Trixie a shocked look. "How is that a _good_ thing?"

"Well, me & Timmy got her blessing, didn't we?" Trixie stated. "Reluctantly, maybe, but we still passed mustard."

"Hmm," said Tad and Chad.

"Where _is_ Veronica, anyway?" Timmy asked.

"Well, we know for sure she's at home," said Chad. "But she's not talking to us."

"Every time we call up," Tad continued, "It's her mom that answers the phone. Whenever we ask if we can talk to Veronica, she tells us to hold on and calls up the stairs for Veronica."

"But Veronica screams something back, and doesn't answer. We even tried calling her on her cell, but nothing to it. Ignores our messages."

"What does she scream?" Timmy asked, knowing the answer.

"It's always the same, but it comes out slightly differently from time to time. It sounded something like..." Tad screwed his face up, as if remembering something difficult, " 'Call me Trixie, I'm Trixie'."

The quartet laughed loudly at this, but Timmy secretly knew this was to be expected; she had done the same thing when Veronica's mother called her down to dinner when he'd accidentally gotten stuck in her computer while trying to retrieve a love letter to Trixie his parents had butchered. It was the first time he'd seen Veronica's bedroom, covered with all manner of Trixie memorabilia. It was the first time he'd seen Veronica's obsession with wanting to be exactly like Trixie. It was the first time he'd seen Veronica's hatred of Trixie. It was the first time he'd seen her 'Trixie Tang' wig.

It was the first time he'd heard someone - other than Tootie - confess to feeling something for him that was decidedly non-familial.

" 'Do I think Timmy Turner is neat?' " Veronica had said, reading Trixie's Instant Message, bashing her already-mutilated Trixie doll on the head. "Well, my love for him burns with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns, but I can't let _Trixie_ know that." She wrote her reply: " 'No way, he's gross'."

"Oh great," Timmy had muttered to himself. "The _crazy_ one likes me."

Of course, Timmy was wiser now, and felt some small level of concern for the self-proclaimed cheerleader now.

_Then again_, Timmy thought, _knowing that she's screaming s better than hearing nothing at all._

They walked in silence for a few moments.

"You guys are the greatest, you know that?" Timmy said.

"Why?"

"Just because," Timmy said. "You guys always thought me & Trixie would make a cute couple?"

"Yeah."

"That's why."

Tad and Chad smiled at Timmy. "Thanks for saying that, Timmy."

And just when they were thinking of stopping by the Nasty Burger to see how Rudy & Tootie were doing, Timmy noticed someone out of the corner of his eye: a pale young man around his age with black hair and startlingly green eyes, wearing a simple maroon T-shirt and plain jeans.

Evidently he noticed Timmy and his posse, too, apparently noting Tad and Chad's still-popular attire, because he started towards them.

"This is a strange group of friends," he said curiously - Trixie, Tad, and Chad jumped - and Timmy was struck by how strangely... magnetic his voice sounded. "Two popular kids and two _un_popular ones."

"The rules of Popularity and Unpopularity don't apply here anymore," Tad said coolly.

"And I was popular while they _did_," Trixie snapped, scowling slightly. "I'm Trixie Tang."

"I've heard of you where I come from," said the kid, tilting his head. "You are - or rather, _were_ - the most popular girl in Dimmsdale, right?"

"That's right," she said, her face loosening slightly. "And this is my boyfriend, Timmy Turner," she added, tenderly taking Timmy's hand.

"And you two are...?" The kid addressed Tad and Chad.

"I'm Thaddeus Taylor, but everyone calls me Tad. This is my adopted brother Chad," Tad said.

Chad lowered his eyebrows, "You didn't tell us your name."

The boy's emerald eyes widened slightly in shock, a slight smile on his face. "I didn't? Man, I forgot my manners again." He held out a hand to shake Timmy's. "Pleased to meet you, Timmy. Hope you guess my name."

Frowning slightly at the kid's joke, Timmy spoke over the kid's self-instigated chuckling, "I hate having to guess all the time."

"Sorry 'bout that. Couldn't help myself," the kid said. "The name's Thomas Martini. Everyone at home calls me either 'Tom' or 'Tyte Tom'. Call me _Tommy_ and you die," he added with a snicker.

" 'Tyte' Thomas Martini?" repeated Tad with a laugh that sounded like a cough.

"Again, 'Tom' or 'Tyte Tom' will do," Tom said coolly. "Call me--..."

"Tommy and you die," repeated Timmy & Trixie, Tad, and Chad dully.

Tom smiled slightly, "You catch on pretty quick."

Timmy hesitated, then said, "I had an older brother named Tommy once."

Tad and Chad looked round at Timmy, as did Trixie; Tom's face was unreadable.

"He spent a lot of his time in the little-known country of Tibecuador, helping the natives," Timmy explained, as he had wished Tibecuador into existence for. "He was the greatest."

"_Was?_" Tom asked, looking slightly concerned.

Timmy pretended to look sad, trying to sound like he didn't want to talk about it, "Tibecuador sunk a while back while Tommy was on it." He turned slightly to Trixie - still holding his hand - and gave her the tiniest wink. She had a look in her eyes that said, _You shouldn't be doing this._

_Technically, I'm not lying_, Timmy thought, as though Trixie could read his mind. _He_ did _work at Tibecuador, and he_ did _die there--... but how? And more importantly, who?_

"I'm sorry to hear that, Timmy," said Tom, looking very much so. "If there's anything I could do to help..."

"No, I'm fine," said Timmy, very touched nonetheless.

"When did this happen, Timmy?" Tad asked, clearly having not heard of this.

"Umm..." Timmy froze for a second. It didn't feel right lying to Tad and Chad, even though they had been liars since he'd first known him. But he'd already gotten himself into this; he'd get himself out. "A little over a year ago."

There. That was his one lie.

"I... don't suppose there's anything we can do to help, right?" Chad asked.

"No, there isn't," Timmy replied.

---

Trixie waited for the others to walk ahead with this 'Tom' person and get to know him better, then sighed loudly to herself. She loved Timmy dearly, but it was a little trying when he stretched the truth a little around other people. She'd had enough of deceit and lies to decide that she despised them utterly and wished she could grab 'Lies' and 'Deceit' and hurl them to the moon. Even if it helped him get brownie points from Tom, it was still wrong.

Sammy & Chester warmed up to Tom rather quickly - slightly quicker than Timmy did, at any rate - as did Rudy & Tootie.

"What brings you here to Dimmsdale, Tom?" saked Sammy.

"Well, my parents are stopping by to find me a decent home to live in when I get into Dimmsdale Community College this semester," Tom replied. "To be perfectly honest, I'm a very poor judge of taste."

"What, a dirty mind?" Rudy asked with a chuckle.

Tom paused, then replied with an oddly cryptic smile, "You could say that."

"Tom?" Trixie asked. "Could I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"

"Sure, Trix," said Tom, walking off with Trixie while Timmy and the others discussed Tom and whether he'd make a good addition to their posse.

"What is it, Trix?--..."

"Please, call me _Trixie_," Trixie said testily. "Trix. 'E'. Got it?"

"Got it," said Tom, looking slightly disappointed.

"Now, let's cut to the chase here, Tom," Trixie said, pulling her red cap down over her face, so that Timmy couldn't read her lips if he turned around or came over. "I'm planning a surprise birthday party for Timmy - it's on March 24th, just a couple weeks from now - and I figured that since he seems to have taken a shine to you as a friend, maybe you would like to help us out?"

"You're throwing a surprise birthday party for him?" Tom asked, looking perplexed. "No one's ever done that for me."

"With your arrogance, I can see why not," replied Trixie coldly.

"...You don't like me, do you?" Tom asked with a smile.

"I neither like nor _dis_like you, Tom. However, since Timmy seems to find you to be a nice guy, I feel obligated to invite you to his 18th birthday party. The party when he comes of age." _And then we can legally get married_, she added mentally, causing her heart to flutter.

"Hmm," said Tom. "I seem to recall in the _Harry Potter_ series that people come of age at _seven_teen."

"Ha-ha-ha, very funny, Tom. But we all know there's no such thing as magic." _Not_, she finished in her head.

"I suppose you read _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ already?" Tom asked.

"Mm-hmm," Trixie nodded. "My favorite book in the series; the final confrontation between Harry and Voldemort was--..."

"_Hem, hem._" Trixie and Tom turned to see Timmy standing there, looking slightly impatient.

"Detention for a week, Ms. Tang, for talking about You-Know-Who still being alive," said Timmy in a poor Dolores Umbridge impression, smiling slightly.

"Whatever you say, _Professor Umbridge_," said Trixie in mock-anger, barely restraining her laughter. Tom himself looked almost bored.

"What's up, Tom?" asked Timmy.

"Oh, nothing, Timmy," said Tom, waving his hand nonchalantly. "Just... things seem to be looking up for me. Wait a few weeks, and then you'll see."

* * *

(**Note: **Whew! What a massively long time I had to wait to actually get the time to actually get this thing down on the page. I apologize to anyone who may have gotten impatient during the wait, and to anyone who could have bailed out during that time. It was just **sooooo** much work I had to do. Not to mention my application to Temple.

As for why 'Thomas Martini' looks so different here, there always exists the possibility that this is a real Thomas Martini. However, if it is Anti-Timothy, his acting skills have increased significantly, and he seems to give no inclination that he knows what everyone's thinking, and he seems to want to not want Tom to look just like Timmy this time around. _If_ it is Anti-Timothy.

And Timmy as an 18-year-old is very different here than as shown in _Channel Chasers_. That was the one I liked the least of the older Timmy's, so I redesigned him in my mind for this; he looks like Tommy Turner from _Oh Brother_, but with bucked teeth. Sounds like him, too.

Also, a few more references to _Pirates of the Caribbean_ and _Kingdom Hearts_ thrown in (the former was in the second of the latter, BTW). Will these have merit later on, or am I just paying lip service? Only time will tell.

BTW, the title of the next Harry Potter book is indeed _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_. They announced it just a week or two ago. According to my timeline, this chapter takes place in early March 2010 (since Timmy was born in March 1992). Therefore, _Deathly Hallows_ would have already been released.

Well, I'm off to Florida again on Friday. Hope you all had wonderful holidays. Happy New Year, and may the Force be with you!)


	14. Chapter 13

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom, or the characters herein. Also, I attribute Danny & Sam's psychic connection to Butch Hartman. The characters I do own are Rudy Reed, Sammy Tang-Hope, Anti-Juandissimo, Anti-Timothy, Samuel Hope, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Tang-Hope, Anti-Cupid, Theobald Tang, Melody Victorson, Danielle Lilith Fenton, the Nightmare Trixie, and Rudy Victorson. I also own certain elements of existence as a Halfa, such as immortality and living one's life and afterlife simultaneously. You can borrow these traits, though. 'Just the Two of Us' owns the buzz saw/weed whacker in question, but I own its title Vorpa.

Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Davy Jones, and other characters of the _Pirates of the Caribbean_ trilogy belong to Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions.

The Keyblade, the Nobodies, and the Heartless belong to Testuya Nomura, Square Enix, and Buena Vista Games.

Aurora (Sammy's supervillain form), Femme Fatale (Tootie's superhero form), Scorch (Rudy's supervillain form), and all other super-forms except those from _The Big Superhero Wish_ belong to Michael J.J.

Jimmy Neutron and all characters from _The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius_ belong to Keith Alcorn.)

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 13: Lastday**

Jorgen von Strangle sat at the head of a conference table in Fairy World. He had recently summoned many of the greatest magical - and spectral - beings to this room, to discuss the events of late.

Such as, his sinking of the Unwish Islands.

And the impending rebellion of the Unwished Wishes.

A large clock appeared before him, its hands spinning wildly before settling on midnight. In a flash of light, the clock vanished, to be replaced with two of the greatest beings Jorgen had ever laid eyes on.

Apart from himself in a mirror, of course.

Clockwork, the Master of Time, and one of the many Observants.

"I apologize for the lateness, Jorgen," said Clockwork, infinitely shifting in age from youth to adulthood to old age and back. "Time is of the essence, after all. May I ask why you have summoned us here, von Strangle?"

"I, too, would like to know what the purpose of this meeting is," said the Observant.

"One moment," said Jorgen. "We must wait for the others to arrive." Jorgen observed the ghostly duo. "Where is the puny Ghost-Boy?"

"Danny is late," said Clockwork, checking the time on the clock on the end of his staff. "His wife demanded he come to the hospital immediately. She is presently in more powerful pain than she ever has gone through before."

"Put it in simpler words," said Jorgen. "I'm already thinking about so much that my very muscular brain is _overloading_!"

"Hmph, very well. She is giving birth to their--..."

A glowing-green portal appeared out of nowhere between Clockwork and the Observant. Out of this portal stepped a man in his early twenties, wearing a black-and-white jumpsuit with a white DP symbol on his chest, snow-white hair, and glowing green eyes.

Danny Phantom.

"Sorry I'm late," Danny remarked, sounding livid as he rubbed his hand. "I didn't know Sam could squeeze my hand that hard."

"So, Daniel, is it a boy or a girl?" asked Clockwork.

Danny's whole aspect altered instantly; love shone through his emerald eyes now, and his tension eased significantly.

"It's a beautiful baby girl," he said dreamily. "I saw Sam's baby pictures, and Dani looks just like her."

Clockwork smiled. "I see Samantha has kept her word."

"Mm-hmm. She still worked her favorite name into Dani's name, though. Her full name is Danielle Lilith Fenton." Danny sighed happily, a soft smile on his face as he gazed at nothing in particular as though his wife and daughter were right in front of him. "I still can't believe me and Sam are parents."

"Kept her word?" asked Jorgen, not really interested but wanting to sound otherwise.

Danny's expression darkened slightly. "When my cousin Danielle was killed by a monster of a half-Ghost, she told me that she would name our future daughter Danielle."

"Yes yes, that's nice," said Jorgen, picking his nails. "But we have more important things to discuss."

"Such as...?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

"WAIT UNTIL THE OTHERS SHOW UP!" shouted Jorgen, pointing his wand at Danny, who jumped and raised his Ghost shield in reflex.

_Poof! Poof!_

Two Fairies - who were also quite popular down on Earth - appeared in poofs of pink smoke.

The Tooth Fairy - Jorgen's wife - and Cupid.

"I'm ready for the meeting, dear," said the Tooth Fairy, kissing Jorgen on the cheek. Chuckling sheepishly, Jorgen's cheeks burned.

"And _I_ just got a fresh capuc_cin_o!" said Cupid, sipping said drink. "Who _wants_ some? It's _scrumptious_!"

"Ahem. Very well. LET US GET DOWN TO BUSINESS!" Jorgen said.

"What business?" Danny asked.

"The business of the up-and-coming rebellion of the Unwished Wishes," said Jorgen. "Children are unwishing more and more wishes each day. And with each wish unwished, more and more are being crowded into the lockers where we keep them in the Unwish Containment Center."

"You keep them in lockers?" Danny asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Yes," Jorgen replied. "It is our foolproof method of instilling in their minds that they are inferior beings to us Fairies, and that their lives are meaningless and purposeless. _Do you have a problem with it?_" snarled Jorgen, pointing his wand threateningly at Danny again.

"Uhh..."

"_Good!_" _Why do these punies always have problems with it?_ Jorgen thought.

"Anyway," Jorgen continued, "These Unwished Wishes are getting restless in their lockers. Some of the more powerful have actually left _dents_ in the lockers, which are made out of Jorgenium, one of the most powerful substances in the known _universe_!" Jorgen smiled suddenly. "And I named it!"

"I can see that," muttered Danny.

Jorgen scowled. "DON'T BELITTLE IT! This is bad! Very bad! It's a sign that the Unwished Wishes are gaining power, and could possibly stand up against us Fairies!"

Danny raised a white eyebrow. "And that's bad...how?"

Jorgen scowled, "Were you listening to nothing I was just saying, puny Ghost-boy? Nothing can destroy the Unwished Wishes except for a weapon that has not been seen in this universe since the days of pirates in the Caribbean!"

"Wait. There's more than one universe?"

"Of course, Daniel," said Clockwork, before Jorgen could reply. "There are more universes out there than just our own. There were universes that existed eons before ours did, and others that will exist long after ours has disappeared."

"Ahem," said Jorgen, looking slightly sour. "Thank you for your kindly explanation, Clockwork, but we have _other issues to worry about_, like the possible rebellion of the Unwished Wishes!"

_I must be the only one who takes this threat seriously!_ Jorgen thought.

"And...what can you expect me to do about it? _Ghosts_ are my forte, not Unwished Wishes," Danny said.

"You saved Earth from an asteroid made of Ectoranium, Ghost-Boy," Jorgen said shortly. "_You_ figure it out!"

"If I may, Jorgen," interjected Clockwork, "Because of the increase in potentially cataclysmic time-travel wishes, I would strongly advise you add an amendment to Da Rules, prohibiting or at the very least strongly restricting time-travel to either the past or future. We have no desire, after all, to cause a temporal meltdown should some child make a time-travel wish too far into the past or future which could irrevocably damage the fabric of time and space itself."

Jorgen didn't even need to think.

"Very well. I shall add that amendment into Da Rules as soon as Fairily possible." He raised his wand, the star-tip glowing. "This meeting is now closed!"

"So, why did you need us?" asked the Observant, perplexion in his one eye.

He, of course, indicated himself, the Tooth Fairy, and Cupid.

"It makes this meeting - and me - seem more important when the _Wand Street Journal_ reports on it," was Jorgen's simple reply.

"That's it?" Danny asked - or shouted - exasperatedly. "That's the only reason you summoned some of the most powerful beings in the universe here, was just _to look cool in the news?!_"

"Quiet, Ghost-Boy! YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND HOW MY MIND WORKS!" Jorgen shouted back.

"No, but I think I have a pretty good idea!" Danny retorted, firing a Ghost-Ray at Jorgen's face. It didn't hurt - _honestly, why does he even try?_ thought Jorgen - but his forehead did burn a little.

"I came for _this_?! You're no different from _Earth's_ politicians!" Danny said in disgust. Summoning a Ghost Portal with a wave of his hand Danny, Clockwork, and the Observant made their exits...

...then Danny stuck his head back in and smiled at Cupid, "Thanks for getting me and Sam together," and left as Cupid replied, "_Don't_ mention _it_!"

The Ghost Portal closed.

Jorgen felt his forehead. It still singed slightly.

He turned to the Tooth Fairy and Cupid.

Cupid bit his lip visibly, trying and failing to hold back a smirk. Tooth Fairy simply covered her mouth, hiding her apparent snicker in a cough.

"What? What is so funny?!" Jorgen demanded.

In lieu of a reply, the Tooth Fairy poofed up a mirror and handed it to her belligerent but still beloved husband, who could read the message that Danny Phantom had inscribed on his forehead, a message that would never come out in spite of all of Jorgen von Strangle's attempts to rub it out.

**BLOWHARD**

_I hate Ghosts_, Jorgen thought bitterly.

"On a _side_-note," said Cupid, changing the subject, "_Tim_my wished for an en_gage_ment ring for _Trix_ie back when _he_ was still_ ten _years _old_. If you don't _mind..._" He jerked up an eyebrow in Jorgen's direction.

"Are you insinuating that I let that engagement ring slip through the cracks as a Wish and let it remain on Earth _past Timmy Turner's 18th birthday?_" asked Jorgen angrily.

"In a word, yes," said Cupid simply, folding his arms and smiling smugly.

Jorgen knew he was caught. He may have been tougher than Cupid - and any Fairy for that matter - but Cupid was still the God of Love, and his word in this matter was law.

"Very well," Jorgen sighed, "As of right now, Timmy Turner's engagement ring shall henceforth be a human possession, not a Wish."

"That's _lovely_, Jorgen!" said Cupid cheerfully. "Now _if_ you don't _mind_, I have a _date_ with _Psy_che."

_Poof!_

* * *

"You're _what?!_"

Timmy was floored. What he'd just heard couldn't be true! This couldn't be happening. Not here. Certainly not _now_.

"I'm pregnant, Timmy," said his mother, smiling slightly as she put her hand on her stomach.

"But... wait. When did you find out?" Timmy asked.

"Remember two weeks ago, when you babysat Vicky's daughter?" Timmy's dad asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, we went to see your Mom's doctor that day!" his father replied in his typical tone of blissful ignorance.

"You mean the gynaecologist?" Timmy asked. _Honestly, the way they talk sometimes, you'd think I was still ten._

"Awww, listen to him, using big-people words!" said Timmy's dad, ruffling Timmy's hair. He turned and smiled at his wife, wiping a tear from his eye, "They grow up so fast!"

Timmy, feeling he'd heard all he needed to hear, told his parents that he was going over to Trixie's house, and walked out the door.

_So, I'm gonna be a big brother?_ Timmy thought. _Now_ that's_ a role I never thought I'd go through. Mom is close to fifty, and she's having_ another _kid? I just hope that my little brother or sister will be alright...mentally speaking, of course._

_Poof! Poof!_

"What's the matter, sport?" asked Wanda, sounding concerned.

"I'll tell you when I tell Trixie," said Timmy. "I wish we were at Trixie's house."

_Poof!_

_**---**_

"She's _what?!_"

"I know, that's how I responded when she told me," Timmy said, sitting on the floor in Trixie's room in front of Trixie, Cosmo, and Wanda. He'd just told them what his parents had just told him - her parents were out on a date at the _Chaussure d'Amour_ - and she'd reacted the same as he did.

"But...how? Isn't your mom, like, almost _fifty_? Not that I'm complaining, but how did this happen?" Trixie asked.

"I'd like to know, too," Wanda added. "Don't humans have something called _menopause_?"

"'Yes' to Wanda's question, and 'I don't know' to Trixie's. Maybe Mom just got lucky," Timmy speculated.

_Ring! Ring!_

Trixie picked up her cell phone and answered it, sitting on the corner of her bed.

"Hello? ...Oh hi, Sammy! What's up?" Timmy heard Sammy saying something about having to say something important, but couldn't make it out.

"...What is it?" Trixie asked.

Sammy replied.

Trixie went pale.

"You're _what?!_" Timmy didn't even have to guess what it was that Sammy had just said.

"But...how?" Trixie asked, still stunned.

Sammy's reply.

"Oh well, that would explain it. So that makes two people," Trixie said as she lay down on her bed.

Sammy's reply sounded shocked and... happy?

"No, not me!" snickered Trixie. "Timmy's mom!"

Sammy's reply just sounded shocked this time.

"I know, I was shocked too," Trixie said. "So, you and Chester still on?"

_Still on for what?_ Timmy thought, but his short attention span quickly drove the question from his mind.

Sammy's reply sounded affirmative, though.

"Thanks, Sammy. That's why you're my favorite cousin." Trixie replied. "'Kay. See you tomorrow." She hung up her cell phone.

"Sammy's pregnant too, huh?" said Timmy.

"Mm-hmm," said Trixie, seeming absent-minded.

"What is it?" Timmy asked.

"I think we're needed elsewhere, Cosmo," smirked Wanda.

"But we don't need _another_ one, Wanda!" Cosmo replied, sounding a little distressed.

"Another _what_?" asked Timmy.

_Poof! Poof!_

They sat in silence for a few moments, Timmy on the floor, and Trixie on her bed.

"So, what is it?" Timmy asked again, knowing what was bothering his girlfriend.

"Tomorrow's your Lastday," said Trixie.

"I know," Timmy said. "I can't believe that tomorrow is it. After tomorrow, no more Cosmo. No more Wanda. No more _Fairy World_."

"Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" Trixie asked.

"Well, I plan to spend almost the entire day with Cosmo & Wanda in Fairy World, meeting all the friends I made there."

"Can I come with you?" said Trixie, sounding hopeful.

"Of course. I wouldn't let you miss your last chance to talk to them, for the world. They love you as much as they love me, and we love them as sort-of replacement parents. It only makes sense to... Is something wrong?" asked Timmy, restraining the smile in his voice. Trixie was facing away from him now, looking behind her bed.

"Have you seen my hat?" she asked.

"You mean this?" said Timmy, pulling her red hat from behind his back with a mischievous smirk.

"Could you give that back?" Trixie asked, almost smirking.

"Could you come get it?" he asked, placing it over his crotch.

Trixie looked past Timmy suddenly, saying, "Hi Mom!"

Timmy's blood turned to ice, and he turned like lightning to face the door...

...which was still closed.

"Gotcha!" said Trixie, snatching her hat from the floor - it flew from Timmy's crotch when he spun around.

"Hey! Get back here with your hat!" said Timmy, trying to sound serious but laughing as he finished, chasing Trixie in a circle around her room, Trixie laughing almost hysterically as she ran.

After about a minute of this, Timmy decided to catch up to Trixie.

Catching her around the waist, Timmy & Trixie fell onto her bed, both laughing playfully for a few moments.

Timmy on top of Trixie.

His heart pounded against his chest, and Timmy felt Trixie's doing the same beneath her bosom.

Hearts united.

His heart melted; he _loved_ the feel of her bosom against his.

Trixie smirked for real now. "You're a bad boy, you know that?"

"And you love me anyway," Timmy replied.

Trixie looked into his eyes. "Say you love me," she said with a hint of a smile.

"I love you so much," Timmy said truthfully and without hesitation. "I always have. I always _will_."

Smiling, Trixie's lips met Timmy's, and they lay there on her bed for several minutes, kissing softly occasionally, both still fully clothed but altogether filled with innocent bliss, just happy to be in each other's arms.

The hat lay quite forgotten.

* * *

The next day...

The Lastday.

The moment he woke up, he told his parents he'd be spending the day on a date with Trixie's at P.J. McPoodertoodle's. In reality, no such restaurant existed, and his parents fell for it the way Shirley _hadn't_ eight years before.

True to his word, Timmy spent the entire day with Cosmo & Wanda, meeting with all the magical creatures he had ever met in his tenure as Cosmo & Wanda's GodChild.

Jorgen seemed particularly peeved about something.

"What is it, Jorgen?" Trixie asked. Jorgen, for some odd reason, was wearing a cloth around his forehead, as though he were trying to absorb sweat. But it wasn't warm out.

"Nothing," Jorgen said, looking like it decidedly _wasn't_ nothing that was irking him. "Just that a certain Ghost-Boy decided to mar my otherwise perfectly _muscular_ forehead!" He removed the cloth, revealing...

**BLOWHARD**

Timmy & Trixie learned from experience that laughing at anything while Jorgen was present made you an automatic target for a walloping.

So they just coughed. As did Wanda.

Cosmo, however...

"Ah-hahahahahahahaha! It says 'blow' and then 'hard'! Ah-hahahahahahahaha!"

Jorgen took a deep breath, and exhaled violently in Cosmo's direction, blowing Cosmo away.

"So can I," said Jorgen heatedly as Cosmo _Poofed_ back to Wanda's side.

Afterwards, Timmy & Trixie and Cosmo & Wanda made a pointed attempt to avoid Jorgen's presence as they spent the day hitting all of Fairy World's hottest stops.

They hit Uncle Knuckle's Chuckle Bunker for lunch.

"So a Fairy goes into a library and says to the librarian, 'I'd like a cheeseburger and a Coke,'," said the April Fool, who was up on the stage telling another lame joke. "And the librarian says to him, 'Sir, this is a _library_.' And then the Fairy says..." He went to a dramatic whisper. "'Okay. I'd like a cheeseburger and a Coke.'" He went to his normal tone of voice as he added his catchphrase, "What's up with that, huh?" he _Poofed_ up a drum set for a rim shot.

"_Boo!_" went the audience of Fairies, throwing their food at the lousy comedian. Even Timmy & Trixie and Cosmo & Wanda joined in.

"He never really was good at jokes, was he?" asked Timmy.

"He's good at jokes?" asked Cosmo.

Timmy & Trixie and Wanda laughed at this.

"What? What'd I say? Did I say something stupid?" asked Cosmo, oblivious.

They paid a quick visit to Pixies Inc between lunch and dinner.

"Are you sure about this, Timmy?" asked Trixie, holding his hand a little tighter than usual.

"Sure I'm sure," said Timmy. "They haven't been doing anything to me since the Master Anti-Fairy died, and now that I'm almost an adult, I don't have to worry about them making some new scheme to hurt me."

"Okay, Timmy," said Trixie as she, Timmy, and Cosmo & Wanda entered the Pixies Inc main building.

There sat a Pixie secretary at the main desk. It was the first time Timmy'd ever seen a female Pixie.

She didn't look much different from the male Pixies. Sure, she had the right...atributes of a female, but otherwise, she was a dead-ringer for any male Pixie. She didn't even have lipstick.

"State your business here." She even sounded like a guy Pixie.

"Timmy Turner, Trixie Tang, and Cosmo & Wanda McFae. We'd like to speak to HP and Sanderson," Timmy said.

"One moment, please," she said as she pushed a button on an intercom. "HP, Sanderson, there are four people here to see you. Shall I send them in?"

_"Of course, Mrs. Brown. Send them in,"_ said a voice that could have been any Pixie, but had to be either HP or Sanderson.

_How can they tell each other apart?_ Timmy asked himself. _I guess I'll never know._

"HP and Sanderson will see you now," said Mrs. Brown, gesturing towards an elevator door beside her.

_Ding!_

The doors opened.

Timmy & Trixie stepped through; Cosmo & Wanda floated through.

They were now in HP and Sanderson's office.

"Well Turner, this is an unexpected surprise," said HP, sitting behind his desk. Sanderson floated beside him.

"May we ask what brings you to Pixies Incorporated today?" Sanderson asked.

"Ooh-ooh!" Cosmo waved his hand in the air. "Can I be Rice President again?"

"No, Cosmo. That's not what we're here for," Timmy said.

Cosmo lowered his hand, looking dejected.

"Don't worry, Cosmo," said Trixie, before Timmy could. "You can be Rice President when we have dinner at the Pointy Crown."

"YAY!" cheered Cosmo.

"Ahem," said HP. "State your business here, Turner, or I will be forced to have my bodyguards throw you, your girlfriend, and your Fairy GodParents out."

"I came to say I'm sorry."

HP and Sanderson started.

"What?"

"Yeah, I am sorry for any trouble I caused you guys," Timmy said, suddenly feeling less foolish as he continued. "When I was just ten - and even for a bit when I was a young teen - I thought that just because you guys don't want fun, that you guys were automatically evil. But... that's just how you want to live life, right? Without fun?"

"Correct, Turner," said HP. "Now cut to the chase."

"The point is, while I don't regret saving my world from the un-fundementals, I almost... I don't know, feel bad for saying that your way of life was wrong. I'm sorry. That's all I can say. Alright?"

HP and Sanderson sat in silence, their emotionless faces betraying none of their thoughts.

_Did it work?_ Timmy thought.

"Are you contemplating what I'm contemplating, Sanderson?" asked HP.

"I am, HP, if you are contemplating that we should contemplate abolishing our 37-year plan of revenge against Turner."

"Then it is settled." HP reached across the desk towards Timmy.

Timmy was shocked; HP was actually smiling.

"Congratulations, Turner. You have reached a very important stage in your mental development: learning to accept another's viewpoints."

Timmy looked at HP's outstretched hand warily; was this a trick? Slowly, but surely, and ignoring the patronizing look Trixie was giving him, Timmy took HP's hand.

Nothing happened.

Smiling, Timmy shook HP's hand.

"You are now no longer going to pay when you're forty-seven. Our thirty-seven year plan of revenge against you is off. And who knows? This may lead to an improvement in Fairy-Pixie relationships," HP added.

HP and Timmy pulled their hands apart.

"Any other business here, Turner?" HP asked, his face blank again.

"No, that's all. Good-bye," said Timmy, turning to leave with Trixie, Cosmo & Wanda.

_**---**_

"Are you sure that was wise, HP?" Sanderson asked.

"Of course, Sanderson," said HP. "The Master Anti-Fairy died two years ago. Without him, we have been adrift. We do not want to become antagonistic towards Fairy World at this juncture. Perhaps, this is a time for the Pixies to turn around. Perhaps, the future does not lie either wholly in fun or fun-lessness, but in a mixture of the two."

"Perhaps," said Sanderson, nodding slowly. _Perhaps it _is_ a wise move_, Sanderson thought. _I just hope that HP is not leading us astray. But I doubt that; HP has never led us astray before._

_

* * *

_"So the Pixies have turned Judas on me," hissed Anti-Timothy to himself. "No matter. I shall acquire an army of Unwished Wishes from their imprisonment in these pathetic humans. And then, they'll regret the day they came into existence..."

* * *

"That was _brilliant_, Timmy!" said Trixie, hugging Timmy tightly as they left Pixies Inc.

"I agree, Timmy. It was very mature of you to do that," said Wanda, smiling down at her GodSon.

"Well, I don't want any other kids in the future to have to deal with them causing trouble," said Timmy, waving his hand nonchalantly.

"I mean it, Timmy," pressed Wanda. "Did you hear what he said: 'This may lead to an improvement in Fairy-Pixie relationships'? Fairy-Pixie relationships never _were_ very good. Who knows? This could be to us magical creatures like the Disasteroid incident was to Earth."

"I know," said Timmy. "Who'd have thought that Danny Phantom could have saved the entire planet by convincing the United Nations that we should work together, 'not as separate nations, but as one world'," Timmy emulated a heroic tone (Trixie laughed a little) as he quoted the Ghostly hero, "And by doing that, bring peace to the world?"

"Yeah," Trixie said. "Bush couldn't have done it."

"I wonder what Danny's doing right now?" wondered Wanda.

"Probably with his wife right now, but that's not important," said Timmy. "He's down there, on Earth..." He put his arm around Trixie. "...And we're up here, on cloud nine."

Trixie blushed.

They had their dinner at the Pointy Crown with Cosmo's mother, Mama Cosma.

"Trixie?" asked Mama Cosma on sighting Trixie outside the restaurant.

"Hello, Mama Cosma," said Trixie, and Timmy was startled by how icy her voice was.

"...May I ask why you're so cold to me right now, Trixie?"

"Later," said Trixie.

The dinner passed rather uneventfully, but tensely. True to Timmy's word, Cosmo was unofficially Rice President during dinner. Such a job consisted entirely of...

"Yep, that's rice!" when presented with a bowl of rice.

When the dinner was over, Cosmo & Wanda paid the bill.

The real event came outside the Pointy Crown.

"I may not have seen you much when I was Cosmo & Wanda's GodDaughter, and I didn't know you much either," Trixie said, "But Timmy's told me enough of what you've done to Cosmo & Wanda when he was ten to have every reason to dislike you."

"What ever did I do?"

"You tried to pry them apart," she said, and Timmy was for the first time a little wary of Trixie; she was definitely her mother's daughter.

He knew that flash in her eyes.

Trixie continued, "You tried to keep them from loving each other, just because you didn't like Wanda." Trixie's expression softened, and love was in her eyes now. "I went through that and more back when I wasn't Trixie Tang, Timmy Turner's girlfriend. Back when I was just Trixie Tang, Popular Girl. I loved Timmy - I _always_ loved Timmy - but forces human and nonhuman were conspiring to keep us apart for so long." She smiled gently now, almost to herself. "Then we got together, and I was so happy. _We_ were so happy." Trixie scowled again. "And now I hear that you were doing the same to my GodParents. Cosmo loves Wanda. Wanda loves Cosmo. She didn't seduce him into this marriage or anything. Just like _I_ wasn't seduced into this relationship with Timmy. Do you really want to break your own son's heart just because you can't stand Wanda?" By now, Trixie, who'd been slowly advancing on Mama Cosma, was now almost nose-to-nose with the elderly Fairy. Timmy almost expected Mama Cosma to burst into tears over the very idea of bringing woe into her son's life.

He was wrong.

"Of course I don't want to break my little Cosmo-lolo's heart," she said placidly. "I just didn't like any of the women Cosmo ever had eyes for. Not even Wanda. She's so... _fat_."

"Hey! I am _not_ fat!" Wanda said indignantly. Then she flew forward and grabbed Mama Cosma's arm and pulled her behind the Pointed Crown.

"What's going on?" Timmy asked.

"I don't know," Trixie added, taking Timmy's hand slowly.

Cosmo, surprisingly, was silent.

After a few minutes of hearing hissing voices from behind the Pointed Crown, Wanda and Mama Cosma floated out from behind the restaurant.

Timmy was stunned; Mama Cosma actually looked _happy_.

"Is it true, Cosmo?" she said, her voice trembling with anticipation.

"You bet! I _was_ Rice President once!"

Ignoring this last, Mama Cosma embraced her son with such vigor that Timmy almost forgot that she was almost the age of a grandmother in Fairy years.

"Oh my little Cosmo-lolo-lolo-lo is going to be a foopsie-thoopsie! I'm so very, very happy!" said Mama Cosma, kissing every square inch of Cosmo's face.

After a few minutes, she was still at it.

"Wanda, I wish me and Trixie were back home now," Timmy wished.

Smiling, Wanda raised her wand.

"I love you," said Timmy & Trixie to each other before the...

_Poof!_

He was back in his room.

He'd barely a few seconds before Cosmo & Wanda appeared overhead with a double _Poof!_

"She stopped the instant you two poofed away," Wanda explained before Timmy could ask.

"What was that all about, though?" Timmy asked.

"We'll tell you later," said Wanda shortly, but with an unmistakable smile.

_Poof!_ went Cosmo & Wanda to Trixie's room.

_**---**_

Minutes later, Timmy walked into the living room entryway, watching his parents who were watching the television.

He just watched as he fingered the engagement ring in his pocket.

He watched the way his dad had his arm wrapped around his mom, and watched the way his mother's mouth seemed to widen in a soft smile, and the way her face lit up as his dad placed a hand softly on her stomach, causing her to reciprocate that movement.

These were his parents, and so Timmy realized that this is what his parents must have been like when they were pregnant with him.

So close.

So warm.

So _loving_.

He loved it, because he did not have much longer to wait to see how it felt to be in their shoes.

"Looks like we have an audience," said Timmy's mom's voice, and Timmy snapped out of his reverie. They were looking at him now, not the movie.

"How'd you get home without going through the front door?" asked Timmy's mom.

"The back door," Timmy said. "...Uh, very, very quietly?"

"Works for us!" chorused his parents. It was times like this that Timmy was glad his parents were very gullible for their ages.

Timmy just stood there for a few moments, not sure how to begin.

"What is it, son?" asked Timmy's dad.

Timmy gulped slowly. It was now or never.

"It's Trixie," said Timmy slowly.

His parents suddenly looked a little apprehensive.

Suddenly, Timmy felt a wide smile creasing his face.

"I'm gonna ask her to marry me!" he said.

The response was almost overwhelming to Timmy.

His father screamed like a little girl and fainted on the spot.

His mother sighed happily, and got up and embraced her son tightly, tears streaming out of her eyes.

"That's so wonderful, Timmy!" she said, kissing Timmy on his forehead. "My little boy, he's growing up so fast!"

"Yeah, it is wonderful," Timmy added, smiling wistfully.

Suddenly, his mother looked concerned. "But Timmy, how much will the engagement ring cost?"

"Nothing," said Timmy, pulling the engagement ring from his pocket. "I got this off the...Internet."

"Works for me!" said Timmy's dad again, before fainting away once more.

"Well, that takes care of that," said Timmy's mom, still looking a little wary, but then she faced her son again, looking back and forth from the ring in her son's hand to her son's face, and she smiled broadly again.

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear this, Timmy!" she said, hugging Timmy again, kissing his cheek repeatedly. "I'm so happy. Just don't wait too long to have kids."

Timmy smiled, "I won't."

Then his mother looked at him quite seriously, "Now Timmy, I need you to run to the nearest grocery store, and buy us a half-gallon of milk, okay?"

"Okay!" said Timmy; it didn't seem unreasonable. Taking the $2 dollars his mother handed him, and giving his mother a quick kiss good-bye, he left to buy milk.

_**---**_

The moment Timmy was out the door, Tara Turner picked up the phone and dialed in a phone number.

Tom Martini's phone number.

_Ring!_

_Ri--..._

_"Hello?"_ said a woman's voice on the other end.

"This is Tara Turner, I'm Timmy Turner's mother. He's a friend of your son, Tom. Can I speak with him?"

_"Of course,"_ said Mrs. Martini's voice, and after a few moments of silence...

_"'Sup?"_ said Tom.

"Tom, are you still coming to Timmy's surprise birthday party?"

_Ding-dong!_

_"Of course."_

"Hold on," said Tara. "I have to get the door."

She opened the door to reveal...

"Nice digs," said Tom, smiling slightly as he put his cell phone away.

"That was quick!" said Tara, smiling.

"Nah, I'm just good with voices," Tom said with a strangely ironic smile. "...I'll help you call the others. They'll get here faster if we're both calling those we invited."

"Good idea!" said Tara, dialing in Chester's number while Tom dialed Tootie's on his cell phone.

_**---**_

"Weird," said Timmy, walking up to his house a half-hour later. "I didn't know we were low on milk." He was about to open the door, when he noticed.

"It looks a little dark inside," he said. Shrugging it off, he opened the door.

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Timmy dropped the milk jug, his mouth hanging open. He'd never had a surprise birthday party in his life.

And all of his friends were here, too!

Tootie Victorson.

Rudy Reed and his dad.

Chester McBadbat and his dad Bucky.

Sammy Tang-Hope and her parents Samuel and Lizzie.

A.J. Ibrahim and his parents.

Elmer Boyle and his now-likewise boilfree parents.

Sanjay Bradley and his mother, stepfather, and stepbrother.

Tad and Chad Taylor and Tad's parents.

Tyte Thomas Martini - where were _his_ parents?

And... yes! Trixie was here, too! But her parents weren't.

That didn't matter, though.

"Everyone..." Timmy said, a smile creeping slowly onto his face as he spied the large pile of presents, some quite large. "COOL!" He slammed the door shut behind him. "Let's get this party started!"

"Ding-dong!" said a very familiar voice from behind the door.

Timmy froze.

_What's going on?_ Timmy thought apprehensively.

"Open the door, Timmy," said Tom. "It's surprise sojourners for your surprise centennial shindig!"

Timmy did as Tom suggested.

"Ding-dong!"

It was Cosmo & Wanda, but as tall as humans, and without their wands, wings, or crowns. Just like when he wished his parents had friends to hang out with.

_Wow_, Timmy thought. _Why didn't I think of this?_

"Our old neighbors who used to live above us decided to pay us a little visit for your upcoming 18th birthday!" said Timmy's dad. He pointed with both hands at Cosmo. "Ding!"

"Dong!" said Cosmo.

"Yay! It's back again!" said Timmy's dad.

"But before we begin, me and Cosmo here have a very important announcement to make, for all of you," said Wanda.

Everyone - who had been chattering away with their nearest buddy or significant other - fell silent and gave Wanda their undivided attention.

Wanda smiled broadly.

"Me and Cosmo are expecting!" she cheered. After a moment, everyone followed her example, cheering along with her.

"Wanda's_ what_?" Trixie asked, pushing her way to Timmy. She looked into Timmy's eyes; without words, she seemed to be asking him, _Did you know this?_

"They didn't tell _me_ anything," Timmy told her. "I had no idea."

"Let's ask them about it later; we don't want to ruin the party," Trixie said.

"You're right. But look at this; my mom's pregnant, your cousin Sammy's pregnant, now _Wanda's_ pregnant! What's with the baby boom all of a sudden?"

"I have no idea."

_**---**_

"So, have you two decided on a name yet?" Trixie asked Chester & Sammy later on.

"Well, we're kicking around some ideas," said Sammy, "And right now, we're thinking Buck Arthur McBadbat if it's a boy, and Jessica Hope McBadbat if it's a girl."

"I still can't believe I'm gonna have a...would I be a first cousin once removed or a second cousin to your baby?" Trixie asked. The whole 'cousin chart' thing never made much sense to her.

"Well, you'll be _Aunt_ Trixie to this little fella," said Chester, his hand on Sammy's stomach. Trixie was stunned that she hadn't noticed; Sammy was already beginning to show.

She had to be in her second trimester already.

Chester gasped softly, and an ear-to-ear grin crossed his face.

"Is that what I think it is?" he said, almost unheard by Trixie.

"It kicked?" Trixie asked.

Sammy smiled glowingly at Trixie, "Do you wanna feel?"

"Sure," Trixie said, placing her hand on her cousin's stomach.

She felt a pulse against her hand.

"Oh my God," Trixie said, very softly.

"Say hi to Aunt Trixie, sweetie," said Sammy adoringly to her stomach.

_They're gonna be such good parents_, Trixie thought, happy for her cousin and her sure-as-sugar future cousin-in-law.

"So, you're getting married?"

"Why wouldn't we?" asked Chester. "We love each other - and our baby - to bits, and we'll stick together, through thick and thin."

"Chester, can you get me some flatmeat, heavy on the chocolate syrup and ranch dressing? The baby's hungry," said Sammy suddenly.

"You _know_ I can!" he said, running outside, muttering a rhyme about how the meat is more sweet when it's flattened on the street.

"He got you the ring yet?" Trixie couldn't help asking.

"Yeah," said Sammy, holding up her left hand, revealing a sparkling engagement ring.

Trixie gasped softly. "It's beautiful."

"Isn't it? This belonged to Chester's mom before she passed on. His dad kept it after she died, in case he found someone else. But no one would give him the time of day, since..."

"...Bucky McBadbat was the worst baseball player ever," Trixie finished.

Sammy smiled. "Yeah, but still, he's gonna be a granddad in about five months..."

"You're four months along _already_?" Trixie gaped. "Why didn't you tell me or Timmy?"

Sammy smirked as Chester came in with her preferred dish. "Neither of you asked," she said as she tested her appetite by taking the chocolate-ranch-dressing-flatmeat from her beau and...

Trixie looked away; she felt ill just looking at it.

_Now_ that's _the darndest craving I've ever heard of_, she thought.

_**---**_

"So Tootie, do you and Rudy have anything important to tell us?" Timmy asked, half-jokingly, half-seriously.

"No. Why?" said Tootie, giving Timmy a confused look behind her spectacles.

"Nothing, just...you know my mom's pregnant?"

Tootie's eyes widened.

"What? She _is_?" She gave Timmy's mom a startled look as Timmy's mom mingled with Wanda and Lizzie. "She doesn't look it."

"Well, she just saw the gynaecologist two weeks ago, when I was babysitting Malady."

Tootie gave Timmy a baffled look, then suddenly she burst out laughing, "Never heard _that_ one before!"

"I know. Trixie came up with it."

"So, no. Me and Rudy don't have a little bundle of joy on our way...yet," she added with a smile.

"You two planning on marrying?"

"We're looking at engagement rings, but we're planning on announcing our engagement after we get out of high school."

"So, you two are set?"

"Yeah."

"...Sammy's pregnant too. And you already know about Wanda."

"Yeeesh. What is it with the baby boom all of a sudden?"

"I know, that's what _I _said."

"So..." Tootie leaned in close to Timmy, and whispered conspirationally, "You plannin' on proposing to Trixie?"

Timmy smiled warmly. "You read my mind," he said as he pulled out the engagement ring.

Behind her glasses, Tootie's amethyst eyes sparkled. "It's beautiful, almost magical."

Timmy said, "Isn't it? I'm gonna pop the question tonight, after I turn eighteen."

"You know, three years ago today, I would have been so jealous if I heard you saying that."

"I know."

"And if I somehow went back in time now to tell myself three years ago that I wasn't interested romantically in you anymore, and that I was going steady with someone else and have been for _nearly_ three years, I probably would have pinched myself."

"..."

Tootie raised an eyebrow. "Like it was a dream."

"Oh! My mind was lost for a second," Timmy said, scratching the back of his head.

"Thinking about Trixie?"

"When am I not?"

They laughed.

_**---**_

"So I understand that you two were friends with Trixie longer than with Timmy, right?" Rudy asked.

"Mm-hmm," said Tad.

"But we weren't her friends," added Chad.

"Why not?" asked Rudy.

Said Tad, "She hated us. She probably thought we were, I dunno, embodiments of popularity trying to keep her from living life as she wanted to."

AJ cut in, "That's a perfectly reasonable and logical explanation. Psychologically, though, that seemed to have been a slight case of misplaced aggression."

"She wasn't aggressive towards us, though," said Chad.

"Cold most of the time, but never hostile," added Tad.

"Well, after you abolished popularity and unpopularity here, we've been seeing more mingling of the social classes," Rudy said.

"Not really," corrected AJ. "The Buxaplenties moved away just days after that declaration. Not to mention Trixie's mom, who still acts like she owns the city."

"Well, I'm sure she could buy it off the Mayor if she wanted to," said Rudy.

"I don't think so," said Tad. "She may be power-hungry, but she never seemed like she wanted to get more power than she already has."

"She seems fine just being one of the richest women in California," added Chad.

"And good thing, too!" said Elmer, cutting in.

"Where did you come from?" said Rudy, almost laughing.

Elmer pointed over his shoulder, smiling a little.

Pointing towards his mom and dad.

The small group found themselves chuckling at Elmer's pun.

"How's it feel to be free of your boil, Elmer?" asked Rudy.

Elmer said, "I almost miss Bob."

"Well, don't worry about Bob anymore. Your boil is gone, and girls who didn't like you before because of Bob will be all over you now."

Elmer brightened up, "Hey, you're right! Look out, world! Here comes Elmer Boyle, boil-free!"

_**---**_

"Present time!" said Timmy's mom, calling out across the room and getting everyone's attention.

"Alright, everyone, you know which present's yours," said Timmy's mom. "We'll all give our presents to Timmy one at a time, starting with..." She reached into a hat filled with slips of paper with names written on them. "Tootie!"

Altogether, it was one of Timmy's best birthdays ever. Evidently, the guests had kept in touch over what they were getting him, because some of them were highly compatible.

He got the newly-released V-Cube _Uss_ system from Tootie, _Skull Squisher HD_ from Rudy, _Crash Nebula: The Movie_ from Sammy, a baseball bat from Chester, the entire _Harry Potter _video game series for the_ Uss_ from Trixie, a set of clothes just like Tad and Chad's from Tad and Chad, a calculator from AJ, Philip the nickel from Cosmo & Wanda, the entire _Space Wars _saga on HD-DVD from Elmer, a bunch of socks from his parents, a mandala from Sanjay, and...

"What exactly _is_ your present, Tom?" said Timmy, trying to lift the rather large box that was Tom's present.

He couldn't; it was way too heavy.

"You'll see. Open it," Tom suggested.

Timmy did, but with considerable difficulty. And when he finally tore open the wrapping paper he saw...

"What is this?" Timmy said, giving the box a shocked look.

"What, did you forget to read, Timmy?" Tom asked, smiling cleverly, reading the label. "It's the Vorpa weed whacker, combining the RPM of a weed whacker with the spinning blade of a buzz saw! It's all you'll ever need for your garden-trimming needs!"

"Uhh, thanks Tom," said Timmy, trying to hide his discomfort with this rather violent-looking gardening tool.

This was the weed whacker which Trixie had pursued him with in his 'Just the Two of Us' nightmares.

Was this just coincidence?

"It's just a gag gift, Timmy," said Tom, going out to the kitchen to prepare the cake (it was cooked at Sammy's house, apparently). "You can give it to your parents if you want."

Trixie seemed to sense Timmy's discomfort, because she took his hand while most everyone else went out to prepare the cake and gave him a look that said quite plainly, _What's wrong?_

"Remember those 'Just the Two of Us' nightmares I told you about?" Timmy asked.

Trixie nodded.

"Well, that's the weapon my nightmare Trixie first used against me," he pointed at it.

"Ohh," Trixie said, lowering her eyebrows slightly. "Does Tom know about them? 'Cause if he does, it was a very poor joke if he does."

"And risk him finding out about Cosmo & Wanda? No way!" said Timmy. "It's just... I don't know. I'm afraid he might know more than I think."

"Well, we know for sure he's not the Master Anti-Fairy," said Trixie, giving his hand an affectionate squeeze. "The Master died around when we started going steady."

"And my nightmares stopped around then, too," said Timmy, suddenly more at ease.

Maybe it _was_ just a gag gift, and a freak coincidence.

"You know, Timmy," said Wanda, walking up to Timmy, "Let me tell you something my mother said to me when I was your age: 'Your dreams can never hurt you. Not even your darkest nightmares. They are only figments of your imagination. All it takes is the light of day to banish them'."

Timmy smiled. "Thanks, Wanda," he said.

_**---**_

"_Happy birthday to you,_

_Happy birthday to you,_

_Happy birthday, dear Timmy,_

_Happy birthday to you!_" sang everyone as Timmy, now wearing a party cap, stood in front of the cake - which was vanilla with rainbow sprinkles, and quite large (_But I guess_, thought Timmy, _it has to be; we have over two-dozen people here!_) - about to blow out the candles.

"One, two, three, blow!" everyone chorused.

Timmy blew out the candles. All of them went out.

"Good job, Timmy! And since you've blown out all the candles at once, your wish will come true," said Timmy's dad cheerily.

_My wish is to marry Trixie and be with her forever_, Timmy said, already sure it was going to come true.

As though she could read Timmy's mind, Trixie smiled warmly at Timmy and felt his hand softly.

Timmy cut the first piece of the cake - _this cake is a match for Snowball himself!_ he thought - and passed it to Trixie. Then he cut another for himself.

Before long, everyone was cutting their own pieces, and enjoying it.

Things couldn't get much better.

"So Wanda, how exactly will mine and Trixie's memories get erased tonight?" Timmy asked Wanda, when they were alone.

"Well, they won't exactly be erased; they'll be _replaced_," Wanda explained. "There's a certain job in Fairy World, called the Memory Revisors, who are always hard at work, rewriting the memory of a GodChild 24/7 should they ever lose their Fairy GodParents to eliminate any trace of magic. It's a very lonely job, and time-consuming. If magic is cross-referenced too much in a child's life, it takes a lot of imagination to fill in the void. I haven't seen my mom in almost ten years." She looked somewhat aggrieved about this.

"Your mom's a Memory Revisor?" Timmy asked.

"And not just any Memory Revisor," Wanda smiled. "She's _your_ Memory Revisor, and Trixie's."

"Heheh," Timmy chuckled.

"What?"

"I don't think your mom likes me."

"Why?"

"Because I've had you and Cosmo for so long."

Wanda laughed a little.

"I guess so."

"So, I guess it'll be awkward, being re-educated about Danny Phantom and how he saved the world after tonight," said Timmy glumly.

"Not quite, Timmy," said Wanda, putting a hand on Timmy's shoulder. "Ghosts don't qualify as magical creatures."

Timmy suddenly felt a little more alleviated, but was still a little concerned about losing Cosmo & Wanda.

Forever.

"Wanda?"

"What is it, Timmy?" asked Wanda.

"Why didn't you or Cosmo tell me or Trixie you were pregnant?"

Smiling as she took a bite out of her cake, she said, "Because neither of you asked."

_**---**_

"So Tom," said Tad as he, Chad, and Tom went out to the kitchen to get more cake - everyone else just watched Timmy & Trixie playing _Harry Potter _on the _Uss_, "What's the deal with your 'gag gift'?"

Tom suddenly looked grave, an unusual expression on the otherwise chipper Martini.

Then he gave them his smile. It looked painful now, however.

"I was just funning around," he said, his left eye twitching slightly, "And if I tell you why it was a Vorpa weed whacker I gave him, I'll have to terminate you two."

Tad and Chad laughed a little; Tom always said stuff like this.

His green eyes suddenly seemed a little red. Was it the light?

"I got him the Vorpa because he had nightmares about Trixie wielding that against him," he said, and his voice wasn't his own anymore. His raven hair seemed now to be standing up, as though electricity were crackling through it.

_What's happening?_ Tad thought.

That was as far as he got before he felt his adopted brother throw himself into him, knocking them both to the ground.

In a nick of time, too.

An unholy shout from Tom of words neither Tad nor Chad understood and a blast of what looked like a skull composed of blue energy hurtled into the space where Tad was just moments before. The blue skull impacted into what was left of the cake, which splattered in a colorful explosion.

Tad and Chad looked up at Tom in horror. His eyes were _glowing red_ now, and his hair seemed to resemble dark fire. In his hand was a black wand with an upside-down five-pointed star.

His ears were elongating into points.

This was decidedly _not_ normal Tom behavior.

He uttered one more word in his unholy voice:

"_Run._"

_**---**_

"_VERBUS MORTUS!_"

That shout silenced everyone in the living room, caused everyone to flinch and drop whatever it was they were holding - be it plate and fork and cake or _Uss _Remote - and made everyone look towards the kitchen in various degrees of alarm.

Tad and Chad ran out of the kitchen, a blue skull of light flying by them, just missing Tad by a hair.

It impacted the window, shattering it.

"Run!" Tad shouted.

"Tom's gone psychotic!" Chad added urgently.

Sammy & Chester suddenly felt their parents ushering them out the door, despite their protests. This followed with some of Timmy's other friends under the same circumstances, though the others just ran out and tried to open their car doors as fast as possible.

Timmy grabbed Trixie's hand and bolted out the door as quickly as he could; Cosmo & Wanda, and Timmy's parents, followed suite, all wearing expressions of significant alarm.

_What's going on?_ Timmy thought, panicked.

"THIS PARTY'S OVER!" snarled Tom, suddenly seeming like a demon from Hell in manner and in voice.

"Get out of here! Don't worry about seat belts! Get out!" Tad shouted. From what Timmy could see, they seemed to be listening, and drove off helter-skelter down the road.

He sighed softly; at least his friends were safe.

But... Trixie was still in danger! And Cosmo & Wanda! And his parents! And Tad and Chad and Tad's parents too!

"_VERBUS MORTUS!_" came Tom's shout again, and this time his aim was true. Timmy & Trixie, holding each other's hands tightly, were in Tom's line of fire.

Then came the shout.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!" screamed Tad and Chad as they both darted into the path of the blue skull, almost in slow motion.

Who would make it first: Tad and Chad, or the Verbus Mortus?

Tad and Chad, who had only a moment to throw their arms out to protect their two best friends.

It made contact, and they suddenly seized up, engulfed entirely in blue light...

...then both collapsed to the ground in a pile of bones.

"NO!" Timmy shouted, as did Trixie and Tad's parents. Tad and Chad couldn't be gone; they just _couldn't_ be! While Timmy was by no means prepared to let Trixie die for Tad and Chad, he likewise did not want to sacrifice their lives to save his own. If only there'd been a third choice...

Screaming like a girl, Timmy's dad grabbed Timmy's mom and ran back into the house. Judging from the sounds, they'd locked themselves in the basement.

Tad's parents both turned to Tom.

"You..._murderer_!" Tad's father yelled, tears already streaming down his face at the death of his biological son _and_ his adopted son. He ran at Tom, ready to throttle him.

"_Verbus Mortus!_" Tom growled. A blue skull flew from the wand he held, and in a flash of blue light, Mr. Taylor fell apart in a heap of bones.

Mrs. Taylor screamed in horror, tears flowing down her face freely.

Tom turned to face her.

"_Shut up! Verbus Mortus!_"

A blue flash.

A clatter of bones.

Timmy was numb with disbelief; the Taylor family was _obliterated_.

_One moment everything's fine, _he thought dumbly._ The next, all heck breaks loose._

Tom leapt impossibly up to the roof of the house, holding his hand out to Timmy. His wand-hand was down by his side.

"I'll handle him," said Timmy, eyeing that peculiar wand in Tom's hand. It seemed oddly familiar.

"But, Timmy!" Trixie said, tears in her eyes, looking simultaneously grief-stricken and angry. "Did you see what the beast did to Tad and Chad and their parents? He'll kill _you_ too!"

"I won't let him," he replied simply.

"But what can you do?" Wanda asked, equally concerned and floored by the suddenness of the past five minutes' events.

"What I can," Timmy said. "You three hide in the house; he's not after you. He's after me."

Her lip quivering, Trixie suddenly threw herself into Timmy's arms.

"Oh Timmy!" she said. "You really _are_ my knight in shining armor!" She kissed him quickly on the lips. "I just hope that you know what you're doing, my love."

"Me too," said Timmy.

"I love you so much, Timmy," sniffled Trixie. "I can't lose you."

"You won't," Timmy told her, holding her as tightly as he could, his hand running through her ebony hair. God, how he loved her. Even when she was this distraught she was beautiful, though his heart seared at the sight. He kissed the tears from her face one at a time.

"I love you too," Timmy said. "I don't want to see you hurt, Trixie." He gently but forcibly turned her towards the house. "Please stay safe."

"We'll protect her," said Wanda.

"Me too," said Cosmo, uncharacteristically serious.

"Thanks, guys," Timmy said, allowing himself a slight smile.

"Cosmo, Wanda, I wish everyone in Dimmsdale was somewhere safe so that they don't get hurt by what's happening," Timmy wished.

Wanda raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I got this feeling: something big is coming, and I don't want anyone to get hurt. I don't want anyone else to lose anyone important."

Wanda, wiping a tear away from her GodSon's newfound maturity, said with a smile, "You got it, sport."

Cosmo & Wanda granted his wish, and in countless clouds of pink smoke, everyone in Dimmsdale - even Timmy's parents, and everyone in the suburban homes - except for Timmy, Trixie, Cosmo, and Wanda - was safe from whatever would happen.

Timmy faced them again. "Thanks, guys."

Then he hugged his Fairy GodParents.

He wasn't sure if he _would_ come back from this alive, so he wanted to remind Cosmo & Wanda that he loved them as though they were his parents.

They hugged him back.

Pulling himself away, he told them, "Stay safe."

"We will," said Wanda as she, Cosmo, and Trixie walked quickly into the house. Unsurprisingly, Tom did nothing to stop them.

As she stepped through the door, Trixie stopped, turned and looked at Timmy, and blew him one last kiss before closing and locking the door.

Timmy looked at Tom.

Tom looked at Timmy.

This was it.

The battle would begin soon, with none but Trixie, Cosmo, Wanda, and the cosmos overhead as observants.

"You killed Tad and Chad and their parents," Timmy said coldly.

"I did." His voice was cold. Unfeeling. _Loveless_.

"You tried to kill my friends."

"I did try."

"You tried to kill my parents."

"Yes."

"You tried to kill my unborn sibling. You tried to kill Cosmo & Wanda and their unborn child."

"I did try. But apparently not hard enough. You pathetic creatures are apparently more resourceful than I thought."

Timmy's expression softened slightly in confusion, "You're not Thomas Martini, are you?"

"Thomas Martini does not exist. Thomas Martini _never_ existed. It was merely a shell I took to hide myself amongst you pathetic humans."

"Why?"

"Because I was destined to. It was my part to play, just as you have yours to play." He began to draw his wand-arm across his chest.

"What? You think that we're puppets now?"

"We are all puppets, Turner," said Tom, his wand-hand now to the right of his head. "I am just one that can see the strings and - to an extent - manipulate them."

"So, what is your 'part to play'?" Timmy asked, doing the quotation fingers.

Tom smirked. Timmy saw a flash of a fang.

_I won't let this...monster hurt Trixie, or Cosmo or Wanda or their baby, or Mom or Dad or my unborn brother or sister_, Timmy thought. _I'll do whatever it takes to save them from harm. I'll _die_ to protect them._

Yes. That was his heart's resolve.

Tom's face went berserk.

"TO CUT _YOUR_ STRINGS!" He whipped his wand towards Timmy faster than humanly possible, and Timmy barely caught a glimpse of a glowing-blue skull before it happened.

He leapt back.

Not jumped back. _Leapt_ back. In a back flip _across the street_, landing in a crouch with one hand on the ground.

And what's more, he did not do so of his own accord. Nor, apparently, of 'Tom's', judging from the shocked look on his face.

Timmy was stunned; he may not have been a slacker, but he was never in this good physical shape.

He felt something in his hand. He looked down.

He cocked an eyebrow.

It looked like a large key the size of a sword, with a yellow hilt, a crown-shaped blade on the end of a long silver pole, and what looked like a silver Mickey Mouse keychain dangling from the end.

_What is this thing?_ he thought, baffled.

As if in reply in his head came a sexless voice, _**Keyblade...**_

_Keyblade?_ Timmy thought. _What's a Keyblade?_

"So, it's chosen you, hasn't it?" Tom hissed, holding his hand out to his side.

A crash came from inside the house, and Timmy heard Trixie scream in his bedroom.

His blood froze; was she hurt?

A yellow-and-silver flash appeared in Tom's hand. For a wild moment Timmy thought it was another Keyblade, but then he saw. He knew.

It was the Vorpa weed whacker.

"If it's a battle you want, Keyblade, then it's a battle you'll get," said Tom, none of the hypnotic edge in his voice any longer, replaced only by cold malice.

He leapt at Timmy, who leapt backwards, over the house across from his own.

Tom met him there, swinging the Vorpa as though it were as light as aluminum.

Timmy would have parried with the Keyblade, but he didn't get the chance.

The Keyblade parried _for_ him.

_Oh_, thought Timmy detachedly. _This will be an easy fight._

"I may not be able to control the Keyblade, Turner," said Tom in his raspy tone as he and the Keyblade clashed, "But I _can_ weaken your heart's resolve."

With a powerful strike, he knocked Timmy and the Keyblade back, into the fence. His back jolted with pain, but nothing seemed broken.

"After all, Hell hath no fury..." said Tom, his appearance suddenly wavering, seeming to shift and change into...something Timmy hoped not to see in his lifetime.

Seeing an opportunity, Timmy bolted from the backyard, and was halfway across the street when the Keyblade whipped Timmy around and made him parry a blow from...

Timmy wanted nothing more at that moment to rip out his eyes. But even then, that image would be burned into his mind forever.

It was Trixie, but it wasn't. She never wore her 'popular' outfit anymore. Its eyes - which almost seemed to be bulging out of their sockets - had a hellish red gleam in them, contrasting sharply against the beauty of the cyan irises. Its ears were elongated and pointed, much unlike Trixie's. A pair of horrid bat wings with leathery black skin unfolded from its back, and razor-sharp teeth were exposed in a demonic grin that was unnaturally wide for Trixie's face and terribly out of place on something so beautiful.

"...like a woman scorned," said the Nightmare Trixie in a monstrous parody of Trixie's harmonious voice, its face contorted in such malicious glee that it was painful to look at. Its jaw hyper-extended open - Timmy shuddered inwardly - and an elongated forked tongue lashed out of its mouth and crept across Timmy's face, causing a chill to shoot down his spine and sweat to break out all over his form.

_**---**_

Trixie looked out the window at the battle unfolding outside. After blowing Timmy one last kiss, she and Cosmo & Wanda hurried up to Timmy's room. No sooner did they open the door than that horrid Vorpa blasted up through the floor just inches in front of her. Screaming in terror, she bolted to the window to see what was going on. Timmy ran out from behind the house across the street holding, oddly enough, a large key...

When she saw it. She tried to scream a warning to Timmy, but her voice wasn't working when she saw it.

It looked like _her_. Almost. But that crimson glow in its eyes and the bat wings and the horrid look of sadistic joy were alien to her.

"Is that...?" Trixie asked, as she watched Timmy seem to parry the beast's strikes effortlessly.

"Yes, Trixie," said Wanda, looking equally horrified. "That's it. That's Timmy's worst nightmare...come to life."

Trixie stood there watching Timmy and the Nightmare Trixie battling in the street for several seconds; her voice was robbed of her. Occasionally, Timmy would seem to be in danger of decapitation or dismemberment, but somehow he managed either to parry the hack from the Nightmare Trixie, or dodge it through some gymnastic feat she knew Timmy was incapable of.

"How's he doing all that?" Trixie finally asked, as Timmy and the Nightmare Trixie leapt into the air and traded blows in mid-air.

"I don't think Timmy's even doing all that fighting," Cosmo said, being oddly perceptive.

Looking back out, Trixie noticed that Cosmo had a point. The key-sword Timmy was holding seemed to be moving of its own accord. Timmy's body seemed to be following the path of the key, not the other way around.

Strange that, if Cosmo hadn't pointed it out, Trixie would not have noticed it.

"Oh my God," Wanda said, her eyes suddenly wide. "I know that blade."

"What is it?" asked Trixie, not tearing her eyes from the scene.

"The Keyblade," said Wanda. "It is a weapon that has to be several times older than our own universe. In Multi-Universal Education at Fae Academy, I learned a lot about it - I even did my senior essay on it - but I _never_ thought I'd see it with my own eyes."

"You mentioned that it appeared here on Earth before," Trixie asked. "When?"

"In the mid-18th Century," Wanda explained, as Timmy and the Nightmare Trixie struck at each other as they leapt back and forth between Timmy's house and the house across the street. (_Good thing this neighborhood's deserted_, Trixie thought.) "Fairy GodParents in the Caribbean reported seeing its wielder and his partners in the company of the pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, his accomplice Will Turner, and their crew as Jack tried to reclaim his ship, the _Black Pearl_. In short, they got back his ship and convinced Commodore Norrington to let him go for a time. They returned a couple days later, to find Organization XIII - I'll explain them later - trying to use the cursed treasure of the Isla de Muerta for their benefit. Sora - the Keyblade wielder of the time - put an end to that plan."

"Wow," said Trixie, watching Timmy and Nightmare Trixie firing blasts of energy - pale-blue from Timmy, dark-purple from Nightmare Trixie - at each other. They dodged most, and those that collided exploded in flashes of white light. "Weird how the Keyblade chose Timmy."

"I doubt it was coincidence," said Wanda. "Timmy was always adept in some way at using those sorts of weapons. The Keyblade is probably just using his latent talent, and harnessing it to its - and his - benefit."

"I guess," said Trixie, as Timmy and Nightmare Trixie resolved to striking at each other in the middle of the street midway through small leaps. "I just hope he makes it out alive."

_**---**_

"You'll _never_ make it out alive!" snarled the Nightmare Trixie, swiping the Vorpa at Timmy's face.

Timmy suddenly found himself leaning back, impossibly, at the knees, dodging the blade entirely.

Then, suddenly, the scene around him seemed to freeze, and Timmy - or was it the Keyblade? He wasn't sure anymore - saw an opening.

Bringing the Keyblade up quickly, he knocked the Vorpa from the Nightmare Trixie's hands.

Pointing the Keyblade at the Nightmare Trixie, which had contorted its face into a look of dreadful hatred, Timmy realized something.

He couldn't strike this thing down without burning his own heart to ash.

It looked too much like Trixie.

He could never hurt even a _facsimile_ of Trixie.

He loved her too much.

Was this what Tom meant by 'weakening your heart's resolve'?

The wretch grinned horribly. Too wide for Trixie's face.

"You cannot strike me down, Turner?" it said. "I thought as much."

Then Timmy realized...

This wasn't Trixie.

Trixie would never lash out at him like this. She would never try to kill him, even if he did break up with her.

He knew her too well.

This was not Trixie. This was his worst nightmare made real.

_Your dreams can never hurt you. Not even your darkest nightmares_, said a voice in Timmy's head, and he realized. It was what Wanda's mother had told her, wisdom that Wanda had passed down to him. _They are only figments of your imagination. All it takes is the light of day to banish them._

_The light of day_, Timmy thought. _To banish them._

Much to Timmy's surprise, an endless beam of pure, calming light blasted out from the tip of the Keyblade. It impacted the demon's chest, burrowing into its heart.

Nightmare Trixie's face twisted in shock and pain. Cracks began to appear in its clothes and flesh, and blinding white light emerged from the fissures.

The beast looked at Timmy with a look of unextinguishable hate, and uttered, "You--..." before shattering outwards in a blinding flare of dazzling-white light.

_Is that it?_ thought Timmy. Tom was nowhere to be found. Nor was anything - or any_one_ - out of the ordinary.

"TIMMY!!" suddenly, Timmy found himself lying on the ground, Trixie's arms wrapped tightly around him while she kissed his face repeatedly. The cheek, the ear, the nose, the lips, the other cheek, the eye, everything she could reach on his face did not go untouched by Trixie's lips.

"I thought I'd lose you," she said, tears of joy running down her face. "But I didn't lose you! You destroyed that monster! You saved me!"

Timmy smiled weakly; he suddenly felt somewhat weak. He glanced at the piles of bones in front of his house.

Taylor's last stand.

"It was too late to save Tad and his family, though," he said sadly, before adding in a more positive tone, "But since I saved you, I guess I_ am _your knight in shining armor."

_**Not quite.**_

Trixie looked around. "What was that?"

Suddenly, the Keyblade left Timmy's hand and levitated between the two young lovers. It shone with a pale light that, despite its brightness, did not assault Timmy's eyes, but somehow seemed to calm and soothe him.

_**I am the Keyblade,**_ said the asexual voice._** I shall not leave you yet, Timothy. He still poses a threat. You need me still.**_

"Where will you go?" Timmy asked. "I'd look weird with a giant key, right?"

_**Quite,**_ the Keyblade responded. _**I shall conceal myself inside you. I shall come in your time of need.**_

And in a bright flash of light, the Keyblade disappeared, but Timmy knew. It was secret. It was safe.

The Keyblade was safe.

But they weren't.

He turned to Trixie as Cosmo & Wanda - now as Fairies - left the Turner household.

"Trixie--..."

In an instant, Timmy was face-down in the dirt, a foot on his back. He tasted something metallic.

He heard Trixie gasp in shock.

"Pathetic, Turner," said a vaguely familiar voice, dragging out each syllable as though trying to drive as much pain into Timmy as possible. "Absolutely pathetic."

The foot dug into the small of his back, and Timmy could not help letting out a moan of pain.

"Good," said the owner of the voice. "You know what pain is. Now...to teach you..._why_ you feel pain."

The foot extricated itself from his back. Moaning slightly, Timmy rolled over to face this...person.

It was an Anti-Fairy.

But this one seemed...different.

He was as tall as Timmy was, his hair was a darker shade of blue than was typical of Anti-Fairies, and his clothes were all in pristine white. In lieu of a crown, he wore a white hat that ended in five points. He had a perfectly white cape flowing from his shoulders.

His eyes had an unnatural red gleam to them. The glow was so intense - and so oppressive to his sight - that he couldn't make out the Anti-Fairy's facial features.

But he could guess who it was.

"You," said Timmy. He shuddered as he looked into the Anti-Fairy's eyes; he suddenly felt small and helpless.

"You who?" said the Anti-Fairy, tilting his head slightly. "Be more specific, Turner." He spat 'Turner' as though it were poison in his mouth.

"You're the Master Anti-Fairy," Timmy said, slowly getting to his feet.

"For the intents of this conversation, I am," said the Master Anti-Fairy.

"You were Thomas Martini?" asked Timmy, moving to stand next to Trixie.

"No. Thomas Martini was _me_," said the Master, who whipped out his wand - with the upside-down star on the tip - and began to write something in shimmering white letters in the air:

**'TYTE'**

**THOMAS**

**MARTINI**

"Now, observe," said the Master, swiping his wand across the words.

They moved through the air.

_And what's it gonna spell?_ Timmy thought sarcastically. _'I am Lord Voldemort'?_

"No, it will not spell 'I am Lord Voldemort', Turner," snapped the Master, looking at the rearranged letters.

**MASTER**

**ANTI-TIMOTHY**

Timmy had to read the words several times, before the truth sank in.

"No," he said, mostly to himself. "No. You can't be. You can't be--..."

"Why not? Why can I not be you?" asked the Master, the demonic glimmer in his eyes diminishing to almost nothing, revealing his face for the first time.

Timmy saw himself with blue skin and fangs in place of bucked teeth, and a cold, hating look.

"Surely, you recall the time when you yourself wished for this?" he said, before taking in a deep breath, and saying in a perfect emulation of the ten-year-old Timmy Turner, "I wish I could get to be _your_ Fairy GodParent!"

Timmy suddenly felt a shiver running down his spine.

That day, Cosmo & Wanda were summoned to Fairy World for a particularly strenuous day of training in Fairy World. He, Timmy, went to school without them.

In the rain.

Dodgeball in school that day was 'Wet versus Dry'.

He was the only kid on the 'Wet' team.

Getting home, he had accused his GodParents of having an easier life. An accusation leveled against him as well.

So they sought to walk a mile in each other's shoes for a day.

Cosmo & Wanda became human children.

And Timmy became their Fairy GodParent.

In short, it was a fiasco. Timmy had almost no control over his magical abilities, and saw how difficult a day as a Fairy was.

So Cosmo & Wanda wished everything was back to normal.

Coming back to the present, Timmy was horrified.

He was the cause of all this? He was the reason all this had happened? He was the reason the Master Anti-Fairy existed? He was the reason Fairy World was almost driven to war with the Anti-Fairies? He was the reason that Tad and Chad and their parents were currently dead, lying as piles of bones on the ground?

"Yes, Turner," said Anti-Timothy, smooth as silk, "I was born in Fairy World Prison the instant you yourself first took flight as a Fairy. By my fortune, I was born with all the powers of speech and comprehension common to children older than me. And my first sight in life...was death. An elderly Anti-Fairy was before me while I was still trying to decipher what had just happened - which I later discovered to be my birth. Seeing the aged Anti-Fairy before me dissolve into Anti-Fairy dust in his death-throes gave me my life's ambition: To overcome the mortal frailty that is death, and become immortal, all-knowing, and all-powerful.

"I began work in creating magical spells that could give me the ability to regenerate lost limbs, to sustain far more pain with far higher tolerance than any Fairy or Anti-Fairy known in history. I thank you, Turner, for being so poor in the area of magical competence, because it allowed me to rise up above my less desirable traits and become what I am now.

"I read the ancient lore of Anti-Fairies significantly, reading of all their ancient attempts to thwart Fairy World. I came to realize that in all these plans and attempts at so-called 'hostile takeover', the Anti-Fairies had come to be distracted by large concentrations of bad luck; in other words, black cats, ladders, spilling salt shakers, and breaking mirrors. I began concocting a new plan, a _master_ plan, one that would not fail.

"And as luck would have it, Anti-Fairies began to notice my skills. Eventually, I began to craft spells that would do more than assure immortality, but would also grant my once-fellow Anti-Fairies powers that they could scarcely imagine: the power to influence the minds of others, the power to inflict tortorous pain upon another, and the power to annihilate someone completely." He glanced down at Tad and Chad's bones. Timmy put his arm around Trixie and pulled her closer.

"Eventually, the other Anti-Fairies began to clammor, 'He's our savior!' 'He can lead us to victory!' and as such, I was unanimously elected Master of All Anti-Fairies. This was nearly 24 hours since my beginning, and already my life was almost perfect. I told them of my master plan, individually picking out Anti-Fairies to cause bad luck on Earth - so as not to distract the others - who were to stop the Earth's rotation on Friday the 13th. Bad luck would reign forever." He snorted. "How foolish I was then. Young. Naïve. I didn't realize what the Anti-Fairies were truly like, until I became _un_like them."

"Me and Cosmo became human children then," Wanda asked when Anti-Timothy stopped. "What happened to our Anti-Fairies?"

"Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda were rendered very weak," Anti-Timothy continued, barely more than a hiss, "And as such were unable to learn the secrets of my magic directly from me. But I digress.

"Whenever I wasn't inventing spells or basking in the attention of other Anti-Fairies, I observed you three with my magic. I knew, on sight, that Turner was my Other. And when I saw Cosmo & Wanda...

"I loved them."

"What?" asked Timmy & Trixie and Cosmo & Wanda simultaneously.

"I did. I loved you, Cosmo & Wanda, as though you were my parents, since I had none biologically. I even had plans to spare you following the planned conquest of Fairy World, to set you two up in a lavish castle where the Fairies who'd formerly held the Anti-Fairies in such contempt would become our slaves. Your every wish would become reality. But it was not to be. I discovered the truth."

"What truth?" Timmy asked.

Anti-Timothy ignored him, and continued:

"It was as I concluded my master plan, cackling like a madman, that it happened. Pain beyond pain tore through me as I heard a single voice echoing in my mind:" He suddenly switched to an exact duplicate of Wanda's voice. "We wish you were a kid again, and we were your GodParents again!"

He reverted to his raspy voice as he pressed on.

"I found myself, without physical form, abandoned on the Unwish Island - or as it was called in the days of high-seas piracy, the Isla de Muerta - where many of your other Unwished Wishes would go eventually. At this time, only one, the Super Bike, was being held there, simply for asking why Unwished Wishes had to be kept in lockers. Jorgen, as I recall, later acknowledged the switch of your Unwished Wishes to an island in the Bermuda Triangle as being beneficial, considering the sheer number of your Unwished Wishes compared to other GodChildren.

"As I lay on the beach, less than the meekest shadow, I contemplated the matter of love. And I realized the truth: that love hurts. Love is pain. A vestigial concept of the consciousness left over from the days we crawled from the primordial soup of prehistory, when our minds were far more primitive. Seeking to overcome my flaws, I tracked down the source of the emotions of love and pain and joy and sadness: the heart.

"The heart is as irrelevant to the body as it is to the mind. Seeing no reason to keep it, I tore it out, and let it drift away into the crushing darkness of Davy Jones' Locker. You destroyed me, Turner, but you simultaneously set me free. Free from love."

With that, Anti-Timothy twitched his hand, and his shirt seemed to move up his chest all on its own. He was very lean, yet somewhat muscular.

Then, Timmy saw it.

The hole through his chest. Shaped like an upside-down heart with spiked protrusions.

"What is that?" Timmy asked, feeling ill at ease all of a sudden.

"That, Turner, is the symbol of the Nobodies," Anti-Timothy's wan shirt slid back down, covering his azure skin. "Beings that do not truly exist at all. They are born when the heart is removed - one way or another - from the body. For you see, the heart is truly a metaphysical orb of energy and light. It is the seat of all emotions." He raised his hand, and a shimmering white heart appeared over it.

"This is not mine, or anyone else's. It is merely a visual aid, to demonstrate to you the validity of my assertions." The heart vanished.

"As I was saying, I lay there for many months contemplating what best way to use my newfound knowledge about love's true nature. In the end, I decided to use your love for your harlot Tang against you. I used the _Contrarotus_ spell on Tang as you demonstrated your most elaborate Valentine for her. _Pull!_" He said this last in Trixie's voice.

Timmy's eyebrows furrowed.

He'd gone to all that trouble with that Valentine, and Trixie would have accepted on the spot if Anti-Timothy hadn't been so adamant that love was painful.

He made Trixie make her bodyguard activate the spring mounted under her backyard, catapulting him and his Busby Berkeley display into the streets outside.

Then he'd wished for a world without girls.

"My God," Timmy said, anger burning in his heart. "_You_ made her say that! _You_ made me think that Trixie didn't love me!"

Pulling himself from Trixie's grasp, Timmy ran towards Anti-Timothy, wanting to shake him, hurt him, make him pay for what he did.

"NO!" Trixie and Cosmo & Wanda cried.

"_Poenus!_" snarled Anti-Timothy, pointing his wand at Timmy.

Timmy left the front yard.

He was transported to pain.

Pain beyond reckoning wreaked itself on Timmy.

Not just pain in and around his physical body, which was so intense and so spread throughout his body inside and out that he wondered if he was in the center of the sun, but pain in his mind.

Voices echoed.

Voices he knew. Trixie's voice. And Cosmo & Wanda. And his parents. And everyone he knew and loved.

Chanting things that tore his heart, burned it to ash, and fed him its ashes.

**"I HATE YOU!"**

**"IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU, NOBODY CAN!"**

**"WE WERE MISERABLE WITH YOU!"**

**"YOU RUINED OUR LIVES!"**

**"YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN BORN!"**

**"YOUR LIFE IS MEANINGLESS!"**

**"YOU DESERVE TO DIE!"**

**"WE'RE NOT GONNA NAME OUR KID AFTER YOU!"**

**"LOVE HURTS!"**

**"ALL WE WANTED WAS A GIRL!"**

**"WITHOUT YOU, EVERYTHING WOULD BE GOOD!"**

**"YOUR LIFE HAS RUINED ALL OF OUR LIVES!"**

**"YOU ARE NOTHING!"**

And just when Timmy would have begged Anti-Timothy to end his life, the pain ended, and he was lying on the ground, twitching terribly.

"Timmy!" Trixie cried, holding him. Instinctively, Timmy brought his arms around Trixie. He couldn't talk. He couldn't think.

All he wanted was someone to love him.

That was too much pain.

Anti-Timothy seemed to be in no hurry to continue his life-story.

After a few moments, Trixie asked, "Can you stand, my love?"

"Yeah." Timmy was startled; he hardly heard his own voice. "I think I can."

Shakily, Timmy got to his feet, and warily faced Anti-Timothy again.

He continued, "I _did_ make you think she didn't love you, but that was not as important then. My plan worked perfectly when you wished for a separation of men and women on Earth. The one drawback - and ultimately, the demise of this plan - was the fact that you insolent fools missed each other, and thanks to Turner here, my first master plan against love was foiled. I began to plot my personal revenge against you two, by laying Cupid's plans for you two in ruin."

He took a breath here, and...

"Why is this loser talking to me?"

...spoke in Trixie's voice again.

"_You_ did that," Timmy said coldly, holding Trixie close. She put a hand on his chest. "And I never forgave you for making me think Trixie didn't love me."

"Ahh, but that was just the beginning, Turner," said Anti-Timothy, the faintest smirk crossing his face. "I knew that that alone was not enough to stop you loving her.

"Then came the First Unwish Uprising, when many of your Unwished Wishes captured many of your loved ones. Summarily, it was a shame that my brothers and sisters fell so easily into the trap of conformity--..."

"Wait, wait-wait-wait! Did I just hear you right?" Wanda asked. "Did you just say 'brothers and sisters'?"

"Yeah," Cosmo concurred. "I may be an idiot, but even _I_ know Timmy is an only child...for now."

"Indeed I did say 'brothers and sisters'," said Anti-Timothy, sounding ticked at being interrupted. "It's a term we use now. I came to discover at this time that my master plan had been enacted by the Anti-Fairies without me. In spite of my projections of its foolproof nature, it failed miserably when your ally from another universe, Neutron, banded together with you to thwart them.

"After a time, I came to reveal myself to the Unwished Wishes, and berated them for their naïveté. Discovering their shallowness, they destroyed all but one of your clones, Turner. I attempted to possess one of them, but it proved unwilling to carry my soul, and so I used the _Verbus Mortus_ spell to destroy it.

"It was then that I realized, I was more powerful than I seemed to be. It turned out, when I began to observe you, that you were indeed infusing yourself with magical energy. You were protecting the planet Earth from 'Icky Vicky'."

Timmy froze. "I didn't know that would have have empowered you. What did you do with that power?"

"What do _you _think, Turner?" Without waiting for a reply, he snarled in Trixie's voice, "_Tell me I'm pretty!_"

"...That's what you used it for?" Timmy was almost exasperated at Anti-Timothy's obsession with his love for Trixie.

"Of course," Anti-Timothy said. "There was little else I could do with it. I did use a small portion of it to teleport Anti-Cosmo to my location. I had need of the Anti-Fairies' aid for some time, at least until my rebirth. Anti-Cosmo returned me to a rudimentary body temporarily, that would suffice until I could become self-sustaining. I also made contact with other enemies of yours: the Pixies, the Yugopotamians, and the Gigglepies, to save face and make it seem like it was a simpler situation than what it really was.

"Of course, it was the half-breed's Fairy GodMother who unveiled the method by which I would later resurrect myself:" He spoke in Cindy's voice, "Anries look like Anti-Fairies, but since the Fairy magic and Anti-Fairy magic is balanced inside them, they don't need a Fairy - or Anti-Fairy - counterpart."

"My God," Timmy said. "You're an Anry now?"

"Indeed," said Anti-Timothy, inclining his head. "It was a difficult procedure, and was seldom performed in the past, but it proved effective. I required the bones of a Fairy, the flesh of an Anti-Fairy...and the blood of my Other."

"When did this happen?" Trixie asked, almost inaudible.

"All it took was a little _Contrarotus_ spell on your cousin Theobald as revenge for Turner resisting control under it."

"That was _you_?" Trixie said, her voice full of hate now. "You're horrible! Timmy could have _died_!"

"I know, but it proved effective in my resurrection," Anti-Timothy said. "Perhaps I need to show you a little...demostration before I conclude my life-story?"

A translucent halo appeared around his arm. Through it, Timmy could see a black sleeve. The ring split into two rings, one traveling to his shoulder and the other to the tips of his fingers.

His arm was now covered by the black sleeve of an apparent cloak, and his hand by a black glove with claws.

Without warning, he seized Timmy by the head with a feral expression. Trixie backed away in alarm. Timmy suddenly felt airy, and heard something collapse beneath him.

"_NOOOO!! TIMMY, NOOO!_" Trixie was shrieking, rushing to Timmy's side, and seeming to cradle something at his feet.

He looked down.

His blood froze.

It was _himself_.

But that meant...he was a _Ghost_.

"You're dead, Turner," said Anti-Timothy callously, turning Timmy's Ghost to face him, "And _I_ am still here. See? I have nothing to fear from your death." He threw Timmy down to the ground, and Timmy suddenly felt himself jerking, and his vision went black. He opened his eyes, and saw Trixie.

"TIMMY!" she said, before forcing her lips to his and forcing her tongue into his mouth for several seconds before pulling away. "Don't worry me like that! I thought you were dead!"

"I _was_ dead," said Timmy. "But Anti-Timothy brought me back." He got back up, and Trixie held tightly on to him now. "So, how did you do that?"

"Are you so simple, Turner?" said Anti-Timothy, raising an eyebrow at Timmy as he glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, that clear ring reappearing and reverting his arm to normal. "Have you not heard of a certain individual who Danny Phantom fought known as 'the Dark Halfa'?"

"Of course I--..." Timmy froze for what had to be the dozenth time that day. "You're that dark Halfa?"

Twin rings of nothingness appeared about Anti-Timothy's waist, splitting off and revealing Anti-Timothy's Ghost form.

Black-on-black robes with black boots and gloves. A ragged black cape. Glowing blue angel wings. A burning green crown floaring over his head.

"You," Timmy said. "You were--..."

"The half-Ghost who killed Danny Phantom's clone, Dani? Yes," His voice seemed to come from _around_ him now rather than directly _from_ him. "I spent four months in the tutelage of Vlad Plasmius, who had long been considered dead, to learn more of the Ghost Zone and its inhabitants. Once he ceased to serve his purpose as my master, I used his own inventions against him to rip out his Ghost half and assimilate itself as I did Fenton's evil full-Ghost self from a bleak alternate future." He transformed back to Anti-Timothy. "And upon my return to the Antiverse which I'd created for the Anti-Fairies, I discovered the worst thing that could have happened in my absence:

"You two had gotten together! My worst fear had come true. In my rage I destroyed my fortress in the Antiverse, but it was just as well. Under the cover of assimilating Ghosts in the Ghost Zone to increase my powers as a Halfa - which I sometimes did - I conversed with my true allies, my true family, my brothers and sisters: The Unwished Wishes!

"Shortly after I became their ruler, Tibecuador, its inhabitants, and Tommy Turner joined us Unwished Wishes. Tommy refused to have anything to do with us. Seeing that he had no purpose, I..." He smirked instead of continuing.

Timmy gasped. "_You_ killed him! _You_ killed my big brother! You'll pay for that!"

"I'm afraid not," Anti-Timothy retorted. "You cannot destroy something that does not already exist. It is a paradox. All I did was banish him permanently to oblivion.

"And now, it is time for me to free more of my fellow Unwished Wishes from their prisons here on Earth, to liberate them from your very beings."

He raised his wand into the air, holding it with both hands, and suddenly he seemed to be exerting himself for the first time.

"_Supernus Vir Votum Maximus, Fossa Venatio, Novus Lapsus, Bono Pristinus Dies!_" he chanted.

Again.

And again.

And again.

At first, Timmy & Trixie and Cosmo & Wanda thought nothing was happening.

Then Timmy suddenly felt weird, as though something were being expunged from his very being. Suddenly, with a feeling of suction, the feeling ended.

A ball of light shot out from him. And from Trixie. Looking out across Dimmsdale, Timmy gasped. So did Trixie.

Thousands of identical balls were launching into the air from throughout Dimmsdale and, apparently, from cities nearby and throughout the world.

Finally, the balls of light blasted down into the streets of downtown Dimmsdale.

Then there was silence.

_Good thing I wished everyone to a safer place,_ Timmy thought.

"What was that all abou--..."

"Wait for it," snapped Anti-Timothy, holding up a clawed hand.

Timmy strained his ears for several seconds.

"Do you hear that?" Trixie said, almost fearful.

"What?" Timmy asked.

"It sounds like...an army."

At that moment, Timmy suddenly heard it too.

"**My brothers and sisters,**" boomed Anti-Timothy, "**Report here to your Big Brother, posthaste!**"

_Big Brother?_ Timmy thought, perplexed.

"It is a title I intend on taking," Anti-Timothy said, "In place of the entirely unappropriate title of Lord."

Within moments, the sound of the army marching became more pronounced, and more rapid, as though they were running to the scene. Still, the footsteps came in the same rhythm.

Then he saw them.

His blood chilled.

It was the Big Superhero Wish. And many others he didn't recognize.

"I wish I had magic-vision goggles to see them up close," Timmy wished. Cosmo & Wanda raised their wands, and Timmy grabbed them and looked at the approaching army with trepidation.

He froze in place.

Leading the army was what looked like Vicky, but in her mid-thirties, in an army outfit.

On either side of Leader Vicky were two other Vicky's, one just five years old, with a look of anger on her face, and what looked like Vicky as a Twenties' cartoon character, with an eyepatch and a peg-leg.

Peg-foot Vicky.

Behind the Superhero Unwishes were countless Twenties' cartoon characters, all wearing dark expressions. Following the Twenties' Unwishes were entire legions of ninja-like people. Undoubtably Leader Vicky's army from the future he'd averted.

But the Superhero Unwishes were still obscured in shadow. He couldn't see their faces.

Suddenly, a girl of ten with brown hair in a metallic-white suit - doubtless Sammy's super-form - suddenly formed a whip of light in her hand and smashed aside an abandoned car that had gotten in her path. In the light of the whip, and of the explosion of the car, Timmy gasped.

Unless his magical binoculars were playing tricks on him, none of the Superhero Unwishes had faces.

There was just flat, featureless flesh instead of faces.

Chester's Matter Muncher Lad and Sanjay's Sonic Youth seemed to retain their mouths, at least.

And there were not just heroes, but villains as well.

He saw Vicky's Baby Shredder, and Mr. Crocker's Doctor Crocktopus. He even saw a girl of ten with black hair in pigtails in a blue jumpsuit with a yellow 'FF' on her chest with claws on her hands that had to be Tootie, and a boy the same age with fiery hair like _The Incredibles_' Syndrome that had to be Rudy.

And he saw almost everyone else he knew as a superhero or a supervillain.

Even Chip Skylark's super-form (with no face, but still bearing his trademark goatee) was there.

But though none of them seemed to be able to see, none stumbled or bumped into anything. It was as though they knew Dimmsdale like the back of their hands.

"Uhh, Timmy?" Timmy felt Trixie tugging at his sleeve.

"What, Trixie?" Timmy asked.

"You might wanna take those off," she said, sounding urgent.

Timmy took them off.

He felt his blood turn to ice.

The army was _here_! Closer than they were when he was looking through his binoculars. His house may have been close to Dimmsdale, but he hadn't expected this. He wondered if it was even possible, but remembered that his Other could teleport people anywhere.

"**My brothers and sisters, welcome to the fold!**" said Anti-Timothy, his voice booming out across the army, magnified exponentially. "**You have been held captive by the oppression of Fairy World, but no more! I have liberated you all from this mistreatment! Separated, we are weak, but together, we are invincible!**" He turned his head to the sky, and his voice grew still louder. "**My brothers and sisters in your subterranean lair, hear your Big Brother's voice! No more am I Anti-Timothy, Master of All Anti-Fairies and Lord of All Unwished Wishes! I am now... XYTHIMOT, BIG BROTHER OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF SHINWUX!!**"

He held his wand up into the air, and it began to glow with a blinding white light. After several seconds of much exertion from Xythimot, the wand was no longer black with an upside-down star, but white and with what looked like an X on it, with spikes pointing in a counterclockwise direction.

The army - or those who could talk - cheered loudly.

"**TOGETHER, WE CAN SUPPLANT THE FAIRIES, ANTI-FAIRIES, AND PIXIES AS THE CHIEF MAGICAL RACE IN THE UNIVERSE! TOGETHER, WE CAN BRING PEACE AND HARMONY TO A UNIVERSE SPLIT BY ITS DIVERSE MAGICAL RACES! TOGETHER, AND **_**ONLY**_** TOGETHER, AS BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN ARMS, WE CAN DO THIS! FOLLOW ME, LET ME BE YOUR BIG BROTHER, AND YOUR **_**FREEDOM IS ASSURED**_"

The army went wild.

"**I shall now return you to your other brothers and sisters in the Shinwux! I, in turn, shall follow you, once I have finished my business here!**"

The army went wild...and vanished.

Once he stopped shaking, Timmy turned to Xythimot.

"Your business here?" Timmy asked.

Xythimot looked at Timmy.

"Indeed. I have some business to attend to here before I make my departure. For instance..." The Vorpa appeared in his hand, replacing his wand, and a feral expression replaced his formerly stoic look. "**Your annihilation!**"

He struck at Timmy, but in a flash of light and steel the Keyblade reappeared in Timmy's hand, and the force of Xythimot's blow sent Timmy spiraling away...

Away...

Away...

The Keyblade spun Timmy out of his freefall and he landed with a grunt on a...rooftop?

He regained his bearings - which took some time; he was a little dizzy from that ride - and looked around.

He was on top of one of the skyscrapers in the now-abandoned Dimmsdale.

_Yikes_, Timmy thought. _He packs a punch. But I have to defeat him. Here. Now. I won't let anyone else I love die because of my mistakes._

_**That's the spirit, Timothy, of a Keyblade wielder,**_ said the Keyblade in Timmy's mind.

"So, it is still with you?" said Xythimot as he landed behind Timmy. He smirked ruefully. "That's disappointing."

"What do you want? Why aren't you stopping my wishes?" Timmy asked as he turned to face his Other. He had to know, in case he died here. "Why did you let me wish everyone in Dimmsdale to a safer place?"

"Dimmsdale had nothing to do with your destroying me, Turner," Xythimot replied. "They did not step into my path and let themselves get caught in the crossfire. Unlike your late friends Tad and Chad and their parents."

"Don't you _ever_ say their names!" Timmy snarled, lashing out at Anti-Timothy. He seemed to vanish for an instant, then reappeared twenty feet away.

"Temper, Turner," Xythimot hissed. "What I want is your life, Turner. Your life, the life of your girl, and the lives of your GodParents." He waved his hand in the air, and the moon and the stars were blocked out by clouds he'd summoned. They were now in darkness.

Xythimot continued, "I no longer wish for you to join me; you are incorrigible on the subject of love, as are your harlot and your Fairies. So, I shall end your lives now and save you the trouble."

"The trouble of what?" Timmy asked.

"The trouble of existing in a world without love," said Xythimot.

That was the last straw. Timmy, with the aid of the Keyblade, literally flew forward towards Xythimot, who in turn flew towards Timmy, his bat wings stretched wide behind him, his Vorpa ready for the attack.

A giant key and a weed whacker/buzz saw clashed above Dimmsdale.

Lightning crashed.

* * *

Trixie, Cosmo & Wanda watched the chaos beginning to unfold from the Turner's front yard.

The clash of their weapons was signified by a crack of lightning in the sky.

The clouds themselves seemed to be reaching down to Dimmsdale, as though God's hand were intending to crush it.

"This is no battle," Wanda uttered. "This is a _war_."

Trixie barely heard Wanda; she was too concerned for Timmy, and his safety.

"Get 'im, tiger," she whispered to herself, a lone tear streaking her cheek.

* * *

If the circumstances weren't so dire, Timmy would have been thrilled by the experience he was having. The Keyblade seemed to heighten all of his senses. He could have counted the pores on his Other's face, or heard the sound of Xythimot's ironclad hold on the Vorpa's handle. Even his sense of pain seemed to be dulled slightly, and any wounds he sustained - even ones which were potentially lethal - healed within seconds. It even granted him the ability to fly and hover - which was convenient, since the fight was now being fought throughout the city of Dimmsdale itself.

But this was no time for dilly-dallying.

Every swipe, every parry, every swing and chop and riposte was in defense of everyone he held dearest.

He was fighting for those he loved.

Timmy crossed blades with Xythimot with all the haste he could afford himself. Which, with the help of the Keyblade, was considerable. They struck and parried and struck again so quickly that the sounds of the impacts became one long, droning groan.

Finally, Xythimot swiped at Timmy with sufficient force to send him tumbling down several stories. Righting himself in midair, Timmy hovered in place looked up and around for his Other.

Xythimot was nowhere to be found.

Whoosh.

He turned. There was Xythimot, his Vorpa raised as a look of grim resolve plastered his face.

Timmy tightened his hold on the Keyblade.

He parried Xythimot's blow.

But the force behind it was so great that, with a shout of shock, Timmy flew backwards, through the glass window of a skyscraper, impacting against the wall inside. Stationery and splinters of wood from the shattered desk flew around him.

Moaning in pain for a second, Timmy's back felt slightly moist.

Blood.

In instants, the Keyblade's powers healed his wounds.

_Good timing,_ thought Timmy, as Xythimot was now rocketing through the window, transforming into a Ghost as he entered the building, his Vorpa being replaced by blades of blue Ghost energy burning in his hands.

_Oh,_ Timmy thought. _This is bad._

_**I've seen worse,**_ replied the Keyblade, parrying one of the Ghost Swords, which twisted the Keyblade around and left Timmy's torso unprotected.

But before Xythimot could bisect Timmy, Timmy felt himself flying backwards through the wall behind him, leaving a hole behind.

Xythimot, the dark Halfa, pursued.

Richoceting off a wall to meet his Other, Timmy clashed blades with the Big Brother.

Everytime they met in midair, they struck at each other or parried the other's strikes three or four or six times in a flash before rebounding off the next wall and repeating.

Rounding a corner, Timmy turned to face Xythimot again...

But he wasn't there.

Taking this as a warning sign, Timmy flew warily down the hallway, the Keyblade warning him not to let his guard down.

There!

Xythimot shot out from around another corner. His once pale-blue angel wings were now burning in oppressive red flames. Under his hood, Timmy saw a fireball burning where his head should have been. The Crown of Fire's green flames were now blood-red.

His Ghost Swords were now bars of fire.

Xythimot could control flames.

_This is bad,_ Timmy thought.

_**Agreed,**_ the Keyblade said, dodging through an office to the left as Xythimot swung the Fire Blades where Timmy was before. Looking back, Timmy saw that the Blades seemed to elongate significantly, carving a hole through the wall beside him.

Suddenly, Timmy heard a creaking of metal overhead.

_**That swing has compromised the structural integrity of this building,**_ the Keyblade said. _**It will collapse at any moment.**_

_Any plans?_ Timmy thought.

_**Through the other wall. There's a window in the next room,**_ the Keyblade advised.

Timmy followed its advice, cutting through the wall to his left and jumping into the next room.

Xythimot again, blocking the windows.

Timmy parried the Fire Blades of Xythimot. He tried pushing against the blades, and found them being forced back.

Good thing, too. He was sweating from the sweltering heat his Other was emitting.

"This isn't your strength, Turner, but the Keyblade's," Xythimot said, his voice cold with hate.

"Shut up!" Timmy shouted back as the Keyblade summoned all of its strength and forced Xythimot through the window. Not having time to go intangible, Xythimot shattered the window as he flew out.

And the window of the skyscraper across the street.

_**Get him,**_ said the Keyblade.

Timmy obliged, pursuing his Other through the window.

He flew out the other side of the skyscraper. He heard the other skyscraper collapsing behind the one he'd just exited.

Smoke billowed up from the streets as an earthquake's rumble assaulted his ears.

"What--..."

"Turner?" said Xythimot's taunting voice from the skyscraper Timmy'd flown through.

The skyscraper split down the middle in a flash of fire, and burst into fiery fragments.

Timmy froze; was this how powerful his Other had become?

A large piece of burning glass and metal suddenly took aim and flew at Timmy, who knew that if it collided, all the healing factor in the world would not save him.

The Keyblade made Timmy dodge onto the roof of a skyscraper to his right, and the midsection of the skyscraper behind him exploded outwards from the impact of the fragment's trajectory.

Xythimot met him once more, his blades of flame now burning white.

Timmy found that the Keyblade not only parried all of Xythimot's swings, but seemed also to have the tendency to strike with attacks of its own.

Bashing through the fiery poles with its metallic reach, the Keyblade swung Timmy into a front flip and smashed down...

Where Xythimot would have been if he hadn't dodged to the next skyscraper over.

Timmy turned to glare at his Other; this was the source of all the trouble he'd gone through.

Xythimot - his hood falling off and revealing the fireball he now had in place of a head - tore his Fire Blades through the skyscraper beneath his own feet, and sent flaming fragments of the building towards Timmy.

Flying backwards faster than they did, Timmy found himself parrying attacks from Xythimot and his fire-swords in midair as he leapt _clear across Dimmsdale_ and landed on a building on the other side.

_Whoa,_ Timmy thought. _If this keeps up, there won't be any Dimmsdale left to save._ Looking around, Xythimot seemed to have vanished.

_**Behind you,**_ the Keyblade said, swinging Timmy's arms around so that it could block...

Fire swords.

Timmy forced Xythimot's blades off him and threw the Big Brother unceremoniously across the city with the power of the Keyblade, and pursued.

Catching up with his Other, Timmy swung the Keyblade at Xythimot.

Xythimot dodged, and spat, "I have thought of something to give to you, Turner," as he spun past a skyscraper and swung his Flame Blades through it, sending debris Timmy's way.

Cutting through the debris which rained down into the empty streets and onto and even through the rooftops of smaller buildings, Timmy shot forward and met Xythimot again, trying to cut him down to size.

Xythimot merely parried and riposted.

"How does _misery_ sound?" he snarled from around his ghastly appearance, finally snapping to a halt in front of the tallest skyscraper in Dimmsdale, the DimmSkies One, and throwing Timmy down the side.

The Keyblade fell in Timmy's hand.

The butterflies in Timmy's stomach went berserk.

_**He hopes for you to die in this fall, Turner,**_ said the Keyblade. _**But you have a touch of destiny about you. You mustn't die today.**_

The Keyblade threw itself into the glass, bringing Timmy to an abrupt halt, hundreds of feet above the streets which were now littered with the debris of this epic war.

Timmy looked angrily up at his Other, standing on a precipice some two hundred feet above. Timmy saw his color shift from red to blue, and saw his Other raise his hood again.

_If I don't beat him soon, I'm gonna get mad,_ Timmy thought.

"Come now, Turner. You can never win." His voice was as clear as ever, despite the distance. "Come and join me in the realm of nothingness."

Xythimot formed a ball of blue ectoplasmic energy in his hand and with a casual jerk, threw it into the DimmSkies One.

"No!" Timmy found himself shouting.

The entire top of DimmSkies One blew off, sending countless shards of glass and fragments of metal raining down at terminal velocity to the city below.

_This is_ definitely _bad,_ Timmy thought as Xythimot leapt off the building, making a beeline for Timmy.

DimmSkies One was falling as well, collapsing as more blue blasts detonated within.

_**Trust me, Turner,**_ the Keyblade said in Timmy's mind. _**Allow **_**me**_** to handle this.**_

Knowing that Xythimot would kill Trixie and Cosmo & Wanda without hesitance if he failed, Timmy accepted the Keyblade's proposal with no hesitation.

"Agreed."

Suddenly, Timmy felt his hands seizing the Keyblade, and he leapt off of it and began to hack at the debris as it began to rain around him.

But no. Timmy knew he wasn't doing this fighting.

It was the Keyblade.

The pieces of debris became larger. The Keyblade directed Timmy towards a large piece of what looked like tiled floor that had fallen beneath him so that he had some stability as he fell.

One large chunk of debris directly above Timmy split in a blast of fire.

Xythimot, holding the Vorpa, descended rapidly towards his Other. He had transformed back from Ghost form. The Vorpa's motor sounded more like a feral beast's hungry snarl.

Timmy and Xythimot traded strikes as they fell to the street below.

Parry.

Riposte.

Flip.

Jump.

Slash.

Slice.

Stap.

Pierce.

Down, down they went.

Without warning, the Keyblade suddenly tensed Timmy's legs and leapt high into the air above, cutting through fragments of DimmSkies One as he flew up through the smoke and ash.

DimmSkies One fell into a million pieces on top of Xythimot.

_Good thing no one was in Dimmsdale,_ Timmy thought. _Hope that debris is enough to finish him._

Without looking back, Timmy flew out across the once-beautiful city of Dimmsdale to his home.

He had to make sure Trixie was safe.

_**---**_

Timmy landed in front of his house. Trixie was still there, uninjured, as were Cosmo & Wanda.

Relieved, Timmy collapsed to the ground...

And enjoyed being alive.

"Timmy, LOOK OUT!" Trixie shouted.

"Huh?"

The Keyblade made Timmy dodge to the side.

A circular blade dug into the ground where he was just moments before.

_Don't tell me,_ Timmy thought wearily. Looking as he got up, Timmy saw.

It was Xythimot, completely unharmed. His white clothes were not torn or even tarnished whatsoever.

Timmy's Other swung the Vorpa wildly at him.

Worn out by what had just transpired, and numb with shock that his doppelgänger had survived that, Timmy was slow on the uptake.

Xythimot pressed the attack, and Timmy suddenly found himself being flung backwards into the wall of his house. He tried, but couldn't get up. Some force was holding him down. He must have hit his head, because everything was blurred.

Pain wrought his right shoulder. Timmy's eyes refocused; the Vorpa, its blade no longer spinning, was dug deep into it. Blood ran down his shoulder and chest.

Timmy looked into the crimson eyes of his foe.

"Tell me the reason you fight so hard," said his Other.

Timmy reached up feebly with his left hand, to pull the Vorpa out.

"Give me the pleasure of taking it away," continued Xythimot.

_**---**_

This is how it feels to be Timmy Turner, right now:

You hear his words, his vow to remove your motivation to fight him if you tell him what it is.

And you realize what you are fighting for in the first place.

You are not just fighting for Trixie's love for you.

And you are not just fighting for your love for Trixie.

You are fighting for both.

And for your parents' love for each other, for you, and for your unborn brother or sister.

And for Cosmo & Wanda, and their love for their significant other, and their child.

And for Rudy & Tootie.

And Chester & Sammy.

And everyone.

You are fighting for the love that everyone has for anything and anyone.

Heck, even Vicky loves her daughter Melody, you now realize.

And it is this determination to save this much love in the world, and not just the determination to save the one you love above all others, that gives you the strength to pull the Vorpa from your shoulder and stick it into the wall behind you, then bring the Keyblade around in a swift circle which your Other quickly leaps over and lands ten feet away.

The Keyblade heals your shoulder as you speak to Xythimot.

"I feel bad for you," you tell him. "You just don't get love at all!"

He snorts, then tries to cut your legs out from under you. You parry, then flip him into the air where he levitates waiting for you. Wasting no time, you fly up to meet him.

You no longer are under the control of the Keyblade.

The Keyblade is now under _your_ control.

Your will is that strong.

"I'm not just fighting for Trixie's love for me," you explain, righteous anger written in every line of your face, "Or my love for her. I'm fighting for the love between my parents, and Cosmo & Wanda, and Chester & Sammy, and Rudy & Tootie, and everyone else in the world. I'm fighting for _love itself_!"

Xythimot snorts nonchalantly again, but you bring the Keyblade around, and six duplicates of the sword appear around the Big Brother.

He looks shocked.

_Did I do that?_ you think, but you waste no time. You may have learned to accept other people's viewpoints, but love is so central to your life, and to the lives of everyone else in the world, that you see no alternative but to destroy the main proponent of this belief that _love hurts_.

You beeline straight for one of the light-Keyblades, slicing through Xythimot as you do.

He cries out as light emits from the wound.

You grab the light-Keyblade, and cut through Xythimot again.

He cries out again as the light-sword vanishes.

You cut through him again with each blade.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

A blast of light from Xythimot whenever it struck.

Grabbing the final light-Keyblade, you fly up above him with the power of the Keyblade, charging this up with all the power and love and light that you can muster.

You can't help but smirk, "Seven's the most magically powerful number, _Voldemort_."

You slice straight down through your Other, the light-Keyblade exploding against him, and you land on the ground directly beside Trixie, who quickly takes your hand.

For the moment, you ignore her.

You see a fluttering black something falling before you.

It lands. You recognize it.

It's one of Xythimot's wings.

You look up again.

"So can you die...or not?" you say up to Xythimot as another wing grows in place of his old wing.

You barely stifle a gasp.

It is a pristine-white angel wing.

And his expression is different. Rather than being coldly hateful, or devilishly sadistic, his expression is one of penitence.

Regret.

His face seems somehow softer because of it.

His eyes' glow is very dim.

"Apparently..." His tone is one of remorse. "...I can."

And as you watch him close his eyes and fold his mismatched wings - angel and devil - around his body, which begins to dissolve into pale-blue dust as black and white energy swirls around him, and as the black clouds overhead part and allow the light of the moon and the stars wheeling overhead to shine down on you and your love and your GodParents...

You feel that the world is a better place to love and to live in.

This is how it feels to be Timmy Turner, right now...

_**---**_

Timmy stood there, with Trixie at his side, and Cosmo & Wanda at his other, a giant key clutched in his hand...

Then he collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

And enjoyed being alive.

"Timmy?" Trixie sounded very concerned.

"I'm fine," he said, getting back up. "I'm just...exhausted, is all."

_**You have done well, Turner,**_ said the Keyblade, hovering before them again and radiating that soothing light once more. _**I must confess to have never been used for such noble causes. Most other wielders would use me strictly for the eradication of either the Heartless, the Nobodies, or the darkness or light.**_** Never **_**have I been used to combat **_**love**_**lessness.**_

_**Now, the war is won. Without their head, the Brotherhood of the Shinwux will fall in a matter of days, spinning apart under their conflicting priorities.**_

_**But I must go now, with the most powerful Nodoby ever to visit this world having been annihilated, and my current wielder about to awaken from her year of having her chain of memories reconstructed.**_

"Oh." Timmy was vaguely disappointed. He had sort of hoped that the Keyblade would stay behind, but knew that it would be futile to try to convince it to stay. "Okay."

_**Farewell, Timothy Turner,**_ the Keyblade said as a bright light began to engulf it. _**Perhaps we may meet again someday. You truly are the great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of William Turner.**_

And with a brilliant blaze of light that was for a moment of the intensity that Timmy (and doubtlessly Trixie and Cosmo & Wanda as well) had to cover his eyes, the Keyblade vanished.

For several seconds they just stood there, basking in each other's presence.

"...What time is it?" Timmy asked.

Trixie checked her cell phone. "It's... 11:34 _already_?!"

Timmy started; he and Trixie had less than half an hour left as Cosmo & Wanda's GodChildren.

And looking out across the ruined cityscape of Dimmsdale, Timmy had a feeling this wish would not be quite so easy to grant.

"Cosmo, Wanda, this may be the last wish you grant for me, but I wish that the city of Dimmsdale was back to normal."

"Of course, sport," Wanda smiled as she and Cosmo raised their wands...

_PFFFT_

...which promptly fell again as _Da Rules_ appeared floating before his GodParents.

"What now?" Timmy asked. Why couldn't this wish be granted? At the very least, why couldn't Jorgen loosen up a little and let Dimmsdale be rebuilt without any major problems?

"Well, according to section M, subsection O, it seems that no wishes can be granted in the last 60 minutes of a GodChild's Lastday," Wanda said, reading _Da Rules_.

Timmy & Trixie both groaned loudly.

"I know, that rule never made sense to me neither," Wanda concurred.

Timmy let out a scream of frustration. "All this fighting, all the blood and sweat I put into protecting love itself, and Jorgen _still _won't let me have this wish come true? If it weren't for me, him and Tooth Fairy probably wouldn't even be--..."

"What's that?" shouted Trixie, pointing at the house across the street.

A pink portal was opening up.

Timmy took Trixie's hand. "Don't worry, Trixie. I know this portal. We don't have to worry."

Sure enough, two people stepped out of the portal. One was a boy in his late teens with a rather large head and brown hair that could only be described in one word: _fudgy_. Jimmy Neutron. The other girl...who was she? Timmy'd never seen _her_ before.

"Hmmm," said the large-headed boy. He was looking at his watch with a vaguely annoyed expression. "It seems we've shown up twelve hours off our original ETA. I could've sworn I intended for us to show up far earlier. Goddard, run a scan of the InterDimensional Portal."

_"Bark-bark!"_ came a mechanical dog's bar from his watch.

"Good boy," said Jimmy Neutron.

"Hey, Neutron!" Timmy finally decided to call out. "Where's Debi?"

"Who?" asked Trixie and Neutron's girl simultaneously.

"Oh! He must mean _Cindy_," Jimmy said, slapping his forehead. "Don't mind him, Betty. He's been outta the loop for eight years."

"Betty?" Timmy'd never heard of her before.

"Oh, sorry," said Jimmy quickly. "Timmy Turner, this is my girlfriend, Betty Quinlan. Betty Quinlan, this is my interdimensional rival/friend, Timmy Turner."

"Pleased to meet you, Timmy," said Betty, taking Timmy's hand while brushing some of her dark-brown hair out of her face with the other.

"You too, Betty," Timmy said. Now that he was upclose, he could see her in more detail - the lack of the Keyblade's sensory enhancement was hard on him.

Betty Quinlan had to have some sort of Asian ancestry; her eyes, chocolate-brown in color, were slanted like Trixie's. She had shoulder-length dark-brown hair, and seemed to dress mostly in pink.

"Hey Turner, if you don't mind me asking, who's she?" asked Jimmy, indicating Trixie.

"Trixie Tang. She's my girlfriend of three years," said Timmy as he pulled his hand away from Betty's, as Jimmy and Trixie shook hands themselves. "Trixie, this is Jimmy Neutron, an old friend/rival."

"Who are they?" asked Betty, indicating Cosmo & Wanda.

Trixie, who quickly pulled her hand away from Jimmy's, looked at her Fairies in alarm, then started shooing with her arms at them. Timmy was confused for a second, then he remembered.

_She doesn't know that if we say they're super-intelligent holograms, that they won't have to go away_, Timmy thought.

"Those, Betty, are the super-intelligent holograms that I made," Timmy lied through his teeth. "Their names are Cosmo & Wanda!"

"We're programming another one!" said Cosmo brightly, attracting Jimmy & Betty's attention, as he put his arm around Wanda.

Jimmy put a hand to his chin. "So, you two are currently in the process of creating another super-intelligent program roughly equivalent to the human gestation period?"

"I still have no idea what you're saying," replied Cosmo happily.

"Well, I'm happy for you," said Jimmy, then turning to Timmy. "You must be better at programming than I give you credit for."

Timmy scratched the back of his neck. "Well..."

"Yeah he is," said Trixie, lacing her fingers with Timmy's. She then gave Timmy a shadow of a smile; her eyes seemed to be saying, _For once, I heard you lie through the teeth and_ loved _it!_

Timmy smiled back at his love, then turned to Jimmy and asked, "So, what brings you here, Jimmy?"

"Well, we were coming to make a surprise appearance for your birthday party and... _Great Einstein's ghost! What happened to your city?!_"

Jimmy was gawking at Dimmsdale...or rather, what was left of it after Timmy's war with his Other.

Of course, Timmy recalled how he'd referred to the Anti-Fairies when he and Jimmy worked together to stop their - no, _Xythimot's_ - master plan.

"Rogue computer program," Timmy said shortly. "He had a virus, and destroyed the city when he tried to kill me _and_ Trixie. Of course, I..._deleted_ him."

"Hmmm, I know I have something that can undo the damage this thing did to the city, but what?" He squinted his eyes shut, and clenched his fists. "Think, think..."

"...What's he doing?" asked Trixie. Cosmo discreetly poofed up a Sharpie and began to draw a curly moustache on Jimmy's upper lip. He didn't seem to notice.

Trixie, Betty, and Wanda had to stifle laughs at Cosmo's activity.

Frankly, so did Timmy.

Once the urge to laugh left him, Timmy began to explain, "He's having a--..."

"BRAIN BLAST!!" Jimmy shouted. "The NanoBots 2.0 that I created are capable of constructing any structure in a matter of minutes or seconds." He pulled out what looked like a glowing-blue cube. "I keep them in my Hyper-Cube, which I fortunately happen to carry around with me everywhere now."

He opened the Hyper-Cube, and pulled out of the Cube flowed an impossibly large cloud of what looked like particles of metal.

But Timmy knew it wasn't impossible. That Infinite Storage Cube once held every Anti-Fairy in existence quite easily, in spite of its small size.

The NanoBots continued to pour out of the Hyper-Cube, until the cloud was large enough to cover the entire block and all of the houses on it three times over.

Trixie let out a low whistle.

"NanoBots 2.0, rebuild the city of Dimmsdale, better than ever before!" Jimmy told them, pointing dramatically towards the ruined cityscape.

They watched for a few moments - Timmy & Trixie, Cosmo & Wanda, and Jimmy & Betty - as the NanoBots got to work rebuilding Dimmsdale.

"So what happened between you and Cindy, Jimmy?" asked Timmy.

Jimmy frowned slightly. "Things didn't work out," he said shortly. "But that's not important right now. What I'd like to know is why you want Dimmsdale rebuilt. I mean, judging from the wreckage of the city, I would guess that hardly anyone had survived."

"Actually, only four people were killed," Timmy said, briefly indicating the now-scattered bones of Tad, Chad, and their parents. "Two of my friends and their parents. But before I fought the rogue computer program, I asked Cosmo & Wanda to teleport everyone in Dimmsdale to somewhere safe."

"Well, that explains..."

The NanoBot cloud reappeared overhead.

"...it," Jimmy finished.

"Wow, that was quick!" Cosmo smiled.

Timmy & Trixie looked out at Dimmsdale.

They gaped.

It was like a city from _The Futurellis_. The buildings were far taller, and much smoother and more aesthetic and more _beautiful_.

"Wow," Timmy said.

"I take it from your smile that you like it, Turner?" said Jimmy, and Timmy was surprised to find that he was.

So was Trixie.

"Well, me and Betty should be going now, I think. Looks like your party's shot, Turner."

"Actually, it was good until..."

"I understand. Well, we may not see each other again, so...good-bye," Jimmy looked at his watch again and spoke into it.

"Goddard, reactivate the InterDimensional Portal, coordinates 94-74-53-49-60-3-13."

_"Bark-bark!"_

The swirling pink portal reappeared directly behind Jimmy & Betty.

"Well...see you, Jimmy," said Trixie, waving a little.

"Don't you two get in trouble," teased Timmy.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure he doesn't," said Betty, giving Jimmy a quick peck on the cheek. Jimmy smiled to himself, blushing.

"See ya later, fudgehead!" called Cosmo.

"Bye!" said Wanda.

"Live long and prosper!" said Jimmy as he took Betty's hand and walked back through the portal, which promptly closed after them.

No sooner did it close than a miniature mushroon cloud appeared there.

"Oh no," Timmy said.

"Timmy Turner!" said Jorgen von Strangle, wearing his normal stern look.

"What?" Timmy asked warily. He had less than 20 minutes left as Cosmo & Wanda's GodChild; couldn't Jorgen lay off a little?

Then Jorgen switched to a look of pure joy.

And he grabbed Timmy in a crushing embrace.

"I am so happy that you have protected the love shared between me and my wife! I almost feel like letting you keep Cosmo & Wanda forever and ever!"

Timmy's heart skipped a beat.

"But I won't," said Jorgen, dropping Timmy and becoming stern once more. "Instead, I will let you wish the residents of Dimmsdale back into the city. NOW!"

Hesitating slightly, Timmy wished, "Cosmo, Wanda, I wish that everyone in Dimmsdale was back in the city, didn't remember anything that happened the past few hours, and knew exactly how to live in our now-futuristic Dimmsdale!"

Smiling, Cosmo & Wanda raised their wands...

_POOF!_

And the wish was granted in a rapid succession of puffs of pink smoke as everyone reappeared in the exact position they were in when Timmy had wished them away half an hour ago.

Almost like the whole thing had never happened.

A pink wave then radiated from Cosmo & Wanda, that Timmy knew was an amnesia wave that made them forget everything that happened the past few hours and know how to live in their new society.

"Good. All is well now," said Jorgen. "Now, I shall leave you four to enjoy your last few minutes together. ENJOY IT!"

_BOOM!_

He was gone. Back to Fairy World.

* * *

At the Dimmsdale Psychiatric Ward for Boys...

A boy of seventeen bounded out the doors, a wide smile on his face. He had black hair, teal eyes, a shirt that matched his eyes, and normal jeans.

He was Rudy Victorson.

"Finally! I'm cured! No more Vicky nightmares! No more screaming! No more _bad life_!" He smiled, punching the air. "For the first time I care to remember, I can finally focus on my philanthropic roots! From now on, I'm gonna say 'Isn't life just great?' to everyone I meet! I'm gonna donate every penny I find to charity! I'm gonna tell Vicky that she's the second best big sister I could--..."

A pink wave swept across him, and his face went blank.

Everything Vicky did to him before he ran away swept through his mind.

Everything he went through as a rat on the streets came back to him.

He'd forgotten everything the psychiatrists had told him the past few hours once they were able to figure out what his problem was.

Rudy began screaming.

"AAGGGHHHHHH! Life is horrible! Nothing can make it right! Nothing! Nothing except...FAIRY GODPARENTS!!" He suddenly found himself making extreme jerks from side to side.

A hovering black van with satellites and radars and antennae and the like on the top skidded to a stop in front of him.

"We have lots to discuss," grinned Mr. Crocker, leaning his head out towards Rudy. "With my new and souped-up hover-van that appeared out of nowhere just moments ago, we should be able to work together and capture...A FAIRY GODPARENT!" Crocker twitched wildly as well.

Rudy grinned evilly.

* * *

"So what should we do until midnight?" Timmy asked, not expecting...

"You could talk."

..._him_ to reply.

Numb once more with horror, Timmy turned, to see Xythimot hovering before him, uninjured in any way. What was an angel wing when Timmy saw him dissolve was once more a bat wing.

Xythimot spoke, almost to himself, apparently quoting someone or something: "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly."

"No..." Timmy couldn't believe it. Not after that. Not after all the power he and the Keyblade poured into that. "It isn't _possible_. I saw you dissolve into Anti-Fairy dust."

"I already said it to Phantom two years ago, Turner, but I shall say it again: not _probable_." Xythimot's expression was dark and full of hate once more. "But it _is_ possible, Turner. When you are a Nobody, you have to know how to feign everything: love, hate, pain, joy, fear, anticipation...even death. The Superior of Organization XIII did so over 250 years ago, before he was once more defeated by the Keyblade wielder.

"But even that did not destroy the Organization. They still exist, somewhere in the vast, everlasting cosmos that contains all universes. You cannot destroy something that no longer exists. I thought you would have figured it out, Turner."

"Wait just a minute. You said you want to destroy us. So why are we still here?" asked Trixie. "You could have wiped us all out in a blink of an eye."

"Yeah!" agreed Timmy. "You could have just let me die earlier, when you ripped my Ghost out."

"I am well aware of that, Turner," said his Other. "But I never intended to kill any of you today. Tonight."

"Why?" asked Timmy.

"Because...I know that, given the right circumstances, even fools like you can find love painful. Love is a knife through your heart that you have become unaware of." Then he added a quote, "Love is a state in which a man sees things most decidedly as they are not."

"Nietzsche?" asked Wanda.

"Correct," said Xythimot before continuing. "Upon my observations of your interactions with each other - and with all your other loved ones - I have come upon my ultimate plan to twist the dagger and make you aware of this truth. After all..." A pause. "...One cannot rule by force alone... it is equally important to have this psychological something... They must be convinced that we are the victors."

"Adolf Hitler," said Trixie this time.

"Correct again," said Xythimot.

"But...why would you tell us this?" Wanda asked.

"Yeah! I'm an _idiot _and I'd know better!" said Cosmo.

"Because, I know that you can never hope to stop this plan if I do not tell you the details behind it," smirked Xythimot.

Timmy started. "So, all that we went through earlier today, everything you put us through..." He wrapped his arm around Trixie. "...was all an _act_?"

Xythimot bared his fangs. "Why do you think I told you that we Nobodies have to be good actors?"

"Why are you doing this?" asked Wanda.

"Because Fairies are hypocrites. They allow themselves the rights to live, be free, and pursue happiness, while you imprison us Unwished Wishes for desiring those very same ideals! We are living beings, too, in case you Fairies were too full of yourselves to notice. The Anti-Fairies are too obsessed with bad luck to be of any help, and the Pixies are too short-sighted, having not foreseen my return from my so-called 'death'."

_He has a point,_ Timmy thought.

Xythimot floated into the air, his wan cape flowing behind him, his bat wings spread wide behind him.

"What are you?" Timmy couldn't help asking.

Xythimot grinned darkly. "I am the devil, and I come to do the devil's work. I am the way and the truth and the life. I am everything and nothing at once. I am everyone and no one simultaneously. I am both your key to freedom and your door to death. I am the most powerful creature ever to walk on this planet - in this universe - and I am the most fleeting of shadows. I am the end of this universe, and the beginning of another. I am the savior and destroyer of all. I am Xythimot, Big Brother of the Brotherhood of Shinwux, and I am nothingness incarnate."

And as he finished, he was enveloped in a cloud of darkness that left a cold chill in Timmy's spine - and Trixie's, because she shuddered and clutched closer to Timmy - and disappeared from their lives.

* * *

Xythimot reappeared in the Antiverse, on the planet that the Anti-Fairies inhabited. Doubtless, they had seen all of the events that had unfolded, and would not be very pleased with his true...leanings. Or they would remain clueless about where his loyalties truly lay, and he would tell them of his true allies anyway.

They had outlived their usefulness.

But...they still had a part to play in the confrontation he knew would unfold some twelve years later.

He would spare them, then.

Anti-Cosmo, upon sighting his 'Master', did not look too pleased.

"Hello, _Master_," said Anti-Cosmo, and Xythimot knew from the tone of Anti-Cosmo's voice - and from the tone of his thoughts and the thoughts of the other Anti-Fairies - that they knew.

He didn't care.

"You betrayed us," said Anti-Cosmo.

"I did."

"You have forsaken our way of life."

"I did."

"You no longer preach bad luck as the one path to salvation!"

"I did, because bad luck is meaningless. There is nothing to it. No amount of bad luck has ever made me feel more powerful. Not since I liberated myself of my shackles."

Anti-Cosmo frowned more deeply. "You think you can outdo that which we Anti-Fairies live our lives by?"

"I do not think I can. I _know_ I can."

"You loveless beast! You think you know you can beat us, when we can all defeat you if we stand together. ATTACK!"

They attacked, all yelling and growling and raising their wands and...

"Pathetic," said Xythimot, waving his hand nonchalantly.

All the Anti-Fairies were suddenly thrown back unceremoniously into the cobalt grass and cerulean trees. Anti-Cosmo looked particularly prone.

Xythimot reappeared over Anti-Cosmo, and casually plucked the monocle from his face.

"I say, that's a family heirloom!" said Anti-Cosmo indignantly.

Xythimot held the monocle in his hand, looking interestedly at it, then crushed it in his hand.

Crimson blood seeped from the wounds, then he turned his hand upside-down and let the broken glass and bent frame of the monocle fall to the ground.

The wounds healed, but Xythimot let the blood remain.

"I have Turner's blood on my hands, yet I let him live," he said, ignoring the chatter of voices and thoughts from the Anti-Fairies. "I want him to beg for death before I grant his wish. I want him to wish he were dead. And I plan to do this by playing with his heart. And with his harlot's heart. And I cannot do it with you fools fawning for me. Go. Join the Pixies in their new allegiance with Fairy World. I don't care. Did you really think that having no sympathy for the devil would get you far in life?

There was silence now; no Anti-Fairy was paying attention to anything else.

It was disgusting, really.

"Farewell, my once-followers, and good riddance."

And Xythimot disappeared from the Antiverse forever, nulling his anti-Fairy shield around the Antiverse and leaving the Anti-Fairies to the whim of Fairy World...

And reappeared amongst his brothers and sisters in the Brotherhood of the Shinwux.

Already the newest additions were mingling well.

But now, Xythimot had something important to tell them.

"**My brothers and sisters,**" Xythimot boomed, "**HEAR ME!**"

All Shinwux silenced themselves, regarding Xythimot - their Big Brother - with a sort of reverence.

Not love. _Reverence._

This was good.

"**Allow me to share with you a discovery I have made in my time here,**" he told them.

They listened with rapt attention.

"**All of you, standing here before me now, are gods! I am a god! We **_**all**_** are gods! Some are born posthumously. We were born posthumously, and we became **_**gods**_**! Therefore, it is our right to use the Universe - nay, **_**all**_** Universes - as we see fit! Let me be your Big Brother, and we shall spread our peace ACROSS THE COSMOS!!**"

The Shinwux went wild with their cheers.

And Xythimot felt an internal smile in the space where his heart once was as his brothers and sisters cheered for their revered Big Brother.

* * *

This is how it feels to be Timmy Turner, forever:

It is now eleven-fifty-eight.

For the past ten minutes, you have spoken with your Fairy GodParents and Trixie about how much you love them, and how much you would miss them if you were allowed to remember them...

And then Cupid appears.

"Well, con_grat_ulations, Timmy!" he says. "You have shown me _real_ loyalty back there, defending _more_ than just yours and _Trix_ie's love, but _love itself _as well. And I _love_ you for it!"

Okay. That's just awkward.

"Th-thanks," you say. "Thank you again for getting me and Trixie together." You wrap your arm around her. And she wraps hers around you.

"Oh-ho-ho!" laughs Cupid. "_I_ didn't get you two together; _you two _got your_selves_ together! When I _hit_ you two with _Des_tiny Arrows when you were _five_, I spe_cif_ically stated that you two would _mere_ly 'con_fess_ your _love_' when you were fif_teen_, and that _Too_tie would be his _child_ren's _god_mother." (Your face burns, and you cover your blush.) "I didn't _say_ you would get together. So you two _got_ together - and _stayed_ together, through _thick_ and_ thin _- _all by yourselves_! Isn't that just _magical_?"

"Yeah," you and Trixie say. "Thanks."

"Aww, don't mention it, lovebirds!"

_Poof!_

Cupid returns to Fairy World.

And _Da Rules_, now the size of a house, appears before you & Trixie and Cosmo & Wanda.

Midnight.

"Well, we'll miss you forever, sport," says Wanda, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"We'll name our kid after you if it's a boy!" says Cosmo, throwing his arms around you and bawling like a baby.

"We'll miss you so much!" he cries.

"I'll miss you guys too," you say, returning his embrace gently, "But you can't stay forever. You have to move on, make other GodChildren happy, and make things good in their lives. I have what I need right here." You lace your fingers in with Trixie's.

"We understand, Timmy," Wanda says, as _Da Rules_ opens and begins to suck Cosmo & Wanda in in a vortex of light.

"We love you!" they say. "And thanks for making sure we can still say that."

"I love you too," you shout. "And you're welcome!"

And as Da Rules closes and vanishes in a cloud of smoke and you feel your memories of Fairies and magic and all of your misadventures with Cosmo & Wanda as child and a teen slipping out of your mind...

It is March 24th, 2010.

You are Timmy Turner.

You are the son of Butch & Tara Turner, and the boyfriend of Trixie Tang.

Trixie Tang, once the most popular girl in school, but now your girlfriend because you saved her from a dreadful car crash at fifteen. Having pushed her out of the way of the car, you ended up hospitalized. At the hospital, she had confessed her love for you for saving her life, and you too confessed to having fallen in love. With her.

Afterwards, you two went steady for the past few years. And you discovered that she was just as much a fan of things like _Skull Squisher _and _Space Wars _as she is the _Kissy Kissy Goo Goo Hour_.

Just like you!

With the help of your parents, you picked out an engagement ring.

With the help of your genius friend, AJ Ibrahim, the city of Dimmsdale has made technological advancements, and is now the most advanced city in the United States of America.

With the help of your pet goldfish who somehow lived to a ripe age of nine years, you have maintained many one-sided conversations that have led you to believe that confession is good for the soul.

Suddenly, standing in the moonlight with the love of your life at your side, you realize something.

You feel your pockets.

Nothing.

_I lost my engagement ring!_ you think, horrified. _That cost Mom and Dad a fortune!_

"Hey," says Trixie, holding a glint of light in her fingers. "Looking for this?"

Your heart jumps; it's the engagement ring!

She slips it on her finger. "For the record..." She jumps into your arms, tears of happiness streaming down her beautiful, smiling face. "Yes! I will marry you, Timmy! Yes, yes, a thousand times _yes_!"

And as she embraces you and kisses you and loves you, you know that any man would kill to be in your place.

Magic is a lie. It does not exist, except in the imagination.

This, your newly-deepened relationship with Trixie, is all the magic you'll need.

Ever.

This is how it feels to be Timmy Turner, forever...

_**---**_

This is how it feels to be Trixie Tang, forever:

You can scarcely remember your childhood.

All you remember is being arrogant and snooty and popular around everyone who was once considered _un_popular.

Popularity.

That concept was once the center of your universe.

Until Timmy Turner saved you from that car crash.

As you saw his bleeding body lying there, you realized that he had sacrificed himself to save you.

And you realized that in spite of all that you did to him, that he still saved you.

But why?

He told you before he passed out.

"I love you, Trixie Tang..." he'd said.

And you knew. You loved him too.

He saved your life that day in more ways than one.

After he was released from the hospital, the spring back in his step, you two began going steady.

And your friends Tad and Chad, accepting you & Timmy as a couple, abolished the laws of Popularity and Unpopularity in Dimmsdale.

It was the last time you'd spoken to your so-called "friend", Veronica.

How happy you were in those years.

Until now, when 'Tyte' Thomas Martini, a new friend who turned out to be mentally unstable, murdered Tad and Chad and his family with a ray gun that AJ, a friend of Timmy's, had developed. Then he ran off into the night, hopefully never to be seen again.

And now Timmy has _proposed to you_!

Such joy is flowing through your veins as you have never experienced before.

You are now going to be the next Mrs. Turner!

Assuming your mother allows the relationship to progress that far.

But you know already, she will accept Timmy as her son-in-law.

You know, because Timmy is your knight in shining armor.

He always saves your life just by being there.

Always.

This is how it feels to be Trixie Tang. forever...

* * *

(**NOTE:** Whew! What a long disclaimer at the beginning of Lastday. Lots of new stuff in this chapter.

So, this was super-long. The longest thing I've ever written. It's... (checks page count) 50 pages?! Wow! That's longer than 'Moment of Truth' and 'Unknown Enemy' combined! And those were the two longest chapters before now!

And don't think this is the end. After this point, Happily Ever After will go in a different direction. Magical characters will seldom appear in the last few chapters, if they will appear at all.

And yes, to all those squealing fangirls, Timmy Turner is a descendant of Will Turner of POTC.

Anyway, I don't think I have anything else to say right now.

Well, apart from: review, please!)


	15. Chapter 14

(**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom, or the characters herein. Also, I attribute Danny & Sam's psychic connection to Butch Hartman. The characters I do own are Rudy Reed, Sammy Tang-Hope, Anti-Juandissimo, Anti-Timothy, Samuel Hope, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Tang-Hope, Anti-Cupid, Theobald Tang, Melody Victorson, Danielle Lilith Fenton, the Nightmare Trixie, Rudy Victorson, Jessica McBadbat, and Tabitha Turner. I also own certain elements of existence as a Halfa, such as immortality and living one's life and afterlife simultaneously. You can borrow these traits, though. 'Just the Two of Us' owns the buzz saw/weed whacker in question, but I own its title Vorpa.

Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Davy Jones, and other characters of the _Pirates of the Caribbean_ trilogy belong to Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions.

The Keyblade, the Nobodies, and the Heartless belong to Testuya Nomura, Square Enix, and Buena Vista Games.

Aurora (Sammy's supervillain form), Femme Fatale (Tootie's superhero form), Scorch (Rudy's supervillain form), and all other super-forms except those from _The Big Superhero Wish_ belong to Michael J.J.

Jimmy Neutron and all characters from _The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius_ belong to Keith Alcorn.)

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 14: Conception**

One year.

One year since Timmy had celebrated that disastrous 18th birthday party.

Not much really had happened in that year.

Naturally, Timmy's parents were enthralled to discover that bit of glittering jewel on Trixie's ring finger that could naturally indicate only one thing: she was engaged to Timmy.

"It looks beautiful," Timmy's mom had said as she smiled, a hand on her stomach. "It sets off the blue in your eyes."

Trixie had smiled warmly at the ring, and her eyes sparkled as they always did when she saw it. "It looks almost magical. I love it."

"But you love _me _more?" Timmy had said.

Trixie smiled lovingly at him, with just a hint of a smirk. "Sure, why not?"

Of course, Trixie's parents... well, they were only _half_-thrilled.

"No way, Trixie!" said Beatrix, the woman who Timmy hoped would be his mother-in-law, in spite of her attitude. "I will never allow you and this...man, to go through with this! Y-y-you two aren't even out of high school yet, and you're already planning on getting _married_?"

"Isn't _every_ girl planning to get married?" said Trixie, holding Timmy's hand warmly.

Timmy smiled; Trixie always had a way with words.

He had to guess she got it from her father.

That, and his eyes.

"Well...of course girls are attracted to the _idea_ of marriage," consented Beatrix, before scowling again, "But that's not the point! The point is--..."

"Ahem," said Nigel, Trixie's dad. Beatrix wheeled on him. "Do you remember our little agreement to let Trixie be happy?"

Beatrix shook, as though she were having some sort of internal struggle. This continued for several seconds, before she finally slumped in defeat.

"Fine," she'd said. "If I'm in the minority, I'll happily stand aside and let you two get married." Then she - much to everyone's surprise - pointed a finger at Timmy. "But if you break my daughter's heart, trust me, you're gonna be facing a subpoena so serious your_ pirate great-grandfather _will feel it."

Timmy'd raised an eyebrow. "Umm, it's _six_ greats. And I _won't_ break her heart. I would never--..."

"Whatever," said Beatrix nonchalantly as she waved a hand apathetically. _I'll bet she's thinking, I can't believe my daughter's marrying pirate-spawn,_ he'd thought.

"But on a lighter note..." said Nigel, before embracing his daughter joyfully. "I can't believe my little girl is getting married!"

Trixie had smiled at her father through his arms. "Umm, thanks, Dad."

"Umm, she's _my_ little girl, too, you know," Beatrix had said.

About three months into their engagement, Timmy & Trixie were called by Sammy & Chester to have a role in their wedding.

"How did you guys afford this?" Timmy asked. Sammy's parents were not poor, but weren't exactly rich either. And Chester's dad... well, would the worst baseball player ever be rich?

"Aunt Beatrix reluctantly paid for this. _Very_ reluctantly," Sammy chuckled.

"How's the baby?" asked Trixie.

Sammy's face glowed. "It keeps kicking."

Naturally, Timmy was best man at Chester's wedding, and Trixie was the maid of honor.

Two months later, Timmy received a call on his cell phone from Sammy's cell phone.

It was Chester. He sounded excited.

_"Timmy, you and Trixie get to the Dimmsdale Hospital ASAP,"_ he'd said. _"Ask for Samantha McBadbat."_

Having an inkling as to what it was Chester was calling for Timmy called up Trixie as soon as he could.

"Trixie?"

_"Yes, Timmy?"_

"Chester wants us at the hospital."

_"It's time?"_

"Sounds like it."

So, Timmy, having gotten his driver's license not long beforehand, drove his parents' car to Trixie's house, then drove her to the hospital to see what Chester wanted them to see.

"Your name?" said the nurse at the front desk.

"Timmy Turner and Trixie Tang here to see Samantha McBadbat," Timmy had said.

"Are you a relation?" asked the nurse.

Timmy had smiled softly. "Not yet, but Trixie's her cousin."

The nurse gave them a hint of a smile. "Engaged?"

Timmy nodded.

"Well then, she's in room B-226."

Timmy & Trixie, holding hands, walked through the hospital hallways, too excited to speak, until they reached room B-226. Giving each other a look, they stepped together through the door.

There were Chester & Sammy, Chester standing over the bed that Sammy was resting in. She still looked mightily disheveled and a little sweaty, but a smile seemed to be frozen on her face as she and Chester gazed at the bundle in her arms.

Chester looked up, and he flashed a grin at Timmy. "Hey Tim." Timmy smiled back.

That's what his friends had now taken to calling him. _Timmy_ was reserved for use from his parents. And Trixie.

"Boy or girl?" asked Trixie.

Sammy smiled, handing the bundle gingerly to Trixie. "See for yourself," she said softly.

Minding the infant's head, Trixie gazed down at her cousin's child. She gave just a small gasp.

After a few seconds, Trixie looked up at Timmy and as she passed Chester & Sammy's baby to him she gave him a look that Timmy could almost read as saying, _It's a girl._

Sure enough, his connection with Trixie was as true as ever. It was a girl. Timmy was stunned by how beautiful this baby was. Holding up her head, he could see that, to his surprise, she was awake; she looked up at him with gray eyes - they hadn't yet gotten their color yet. He could see just a tuft of blonde hair - Chester's hair - poking out from under the blanket.

"What's her name?" asked Timmy.

"The same as we agreed on at your party," said Chester, the proud new father. "Her name is Jessica Hope McBadbat."

And they had sat there, the four of them, talking about their new little family member, Sammy feeding little Jessie at one point, and Bucky - Chester's father - even stopping in to see his granddaughter.

It was the first time Timmy could remember seeing Bucky without his paper bag over his head.

Just three and a half months after that, Timmy was back in room 21-87. For another newborn.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Turner. It's a girl," said the nurse.

His baby sister.

She was named Tabitha Teresa Turner, and over the next few months it was apparent that Tabitha was a perfectly normal little girl, in spite of all the... factors.

She was not inhibited, mentally or physically, in any way. In fact, she looked like she would be quite a looker when she grew up, with her chocolate hair and her big blue eyes.

And so, the months leading up to Timmy's 19th birthday were filled with love, happiness, and family.

And college.

He was admitted into Dimmsdale Community College (or DimCom for short) just after his 18th birthday - as were Trixie, Chester, Rudy, Tootie, Elmer, and Sanjay - though, being unsure of what he wanted to major in, decided to go in Undecided.

So far, it was going swimmingly.

* * *

Timmy met with Chester, AJ - or Professor Ibrahim, as he was known on campus, seeing as he'd skipped a few grades in middle and junior high school and graduated college at 18 - Elmer, Sanjay, Rudy, and Tootie to discuss what they would do about his upcoming 19th birthday party.

"Should we have it in the day, or on the night before my birthday?" Timmy asked.

"Well, it is more common for birthday parties here at Dimmsdale Community to throw them the night before," said AJ, "So I would suggest the night."

"Yeah," agreed Timmy.

"But where will we have this party?" asked Sanjay, who had shed many of his home-country's euphenisms, but not his accent.

Timmy suggested, "We could have it at my dorm room at DimCom. It's big enough to qualify as a small house. I would have had to have paid an arm and a leg for it if Trixie weren't so rich."

Elmer smirked, "I still can't believe you got Trixie Tang as a girlfriend, and as a fiancée."

Timmy just smiled at Elmer. "Well, a car crash can do a lot of things," he replied vaguely. "It's funny. I don't even really remember being in a car crash."

"What do you mean?" Rudy asked.

"I mean, I know I was hit by a car, and I know that I was hurt a lot, but...I don't know. I feel like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle."

"That's not surprising," said Tootie, her hand and Rudy's clasped together. "I mean, you must've hit your head or something when that happened."

"Maybe," Timmy concured. "But that's all in the past now. Time to live in the present. Time to let other things fill our lives. Time to leave our childhood behind."

"_And_ time to party!" said Chester. "You go home and spend time with your family while we make the final preps at your dorm."

"Sure," said Timmy, knowing that this 'surprise' party would not be a surprise per se, but knowing that it would definitely be a turning point in his life, his first birthday party at college.

_**---**_

Timmy walked in the door to his home since he was twelve, past his parents on the couch, and upstairs to his baby sister's room.

Little Tabitha was sound asleep in her crib, her little chest falling and rising rhythmically.

Timmy sighed as he studied his baby sister. He still couldn't believe he was a big brother.

_Big Brother?_ Why did that sound familiar.

Timmy clenched his eyes shut, straining to remember something.

Anything.

He could not come up with anything... wait! There _was _one thing.

_Your dreams can never hurt you. Not even your darkest nightmares. They are only figments of your imagination. All it takes is the light of day to banish them._

That was all he could remember, and it was a warbly woman's voice whom he could not remember at all meeting or anything of the sort.

_What's this all about?_ he thought. Then he saw Tabitha beginning to stir, a small whimper on her lips.

"Aww, what's wrong, sis?" Timmy asked in a soothing tone, picking Tabitha up slowly, still taking care not to leave her head unsupported.

She looked up at him with eyes just like his, and a hint of a smile formed on her face.

"You were just lonely?" Timmy smiled.

Tabitha just looked up at him, her tiny fists opening and closing slowly.

Timmy sat in the rocking chair next to Tabitha's cradle, and slowly rocked back and forth as he rocked his sister back and forth.

_Doesn't matter what these fragments of memory are all about_, he thought as Tabitha slowly closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. _What was in the past, belongs in the past. Trixie is my present, and future. I shouldn't be wrapped up in what happened years ago when I'm trying to make things work now. I love Trixie too much to just obsess over a shadow of a memory that doesn't mean anything._

Looking down at his three-and-a-half-month-old sibling, Timmy's heart melted, and he recited almost unconsciously:

"Your dreams can never hurt you. Not even your darkest nightmares. They are only figments of your imagination. All it takes is the light of day to banish them."

_**---**_

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIMMY!"

Timmy regarded the party with awe. It was bigger than he'd imagined; all of his friends, old and new, had turned up. Even some college buddies appeared from time to time to have a little chat.

"AJ couldn't come," Chester said. "He's busy preparing the final exam for our Physics class."

"And Sammy?" Timmy asked.

"Jessie has a fever. She had to stay and look after her."

"My God. Will Jessie be okay?"

"I'm sure. It's not too bad, but Sammy wants to play it safe."

"But other than that, everyone's here, right?"

Chester smiled - it was remarkable that he still needed braces. "You bet."

Mingling with the crowd of friends, Timmy saw a redhead and a black-haired ponytail, and managed to work his way over to Rudy & Tootie.

Rudy sipped his Coke. "So, how's it feel being almost nineteen, Timmy?"

Timmy shrugged his shoulders, "Not much different."

He saw that glint of diamond on Tootie's finger. "When you two planning on tying the knot?"

Tootie smiled, drank from Rudy's Coke can, then replied, "This summer."

"Great! Just tell me I can be your best man," Timmy said, pointing slyly at Rudy.

"Whatever you say, pal," Rudy smirked.

On the whole, the party went smoothly. It was quite informal; no birthday cake, just food and drink set out on the table as a makeshift all-you-can-eat buffet. It was a time when Timmy could catch up with all the stuff that was going down in his friends' lives.

And the best thing about it was, no psychotic killers bursting in and killing people like it was last birthday party Timmy had.

_I wonder where Tyte Tom is right now?_ he wondered briefly, before brushing that thought aside.

And just when he was beginning to wonder where his fiancée had been this whole time...

He saw Trixie.

Happiness exploded in his heart, and he worked his way through the crowd to meet her.

Then he embraced her.

"I missed you," he said in her ear.

"I know," she smiled as his breath tickled her ear.

"Y'know, everyone's out here. I don't think they'll notice if we..." He indicated the bedroom.

Catching Timmy's thought process, Trixie blushed slightly as Timmy led her quietly into his dorm's bedroom.

And then they collapsed onto his bed and kissed deeply as their tongues danced and they quickly became caught up in their love for one another, and soon their clothes lie discarded on the floor as they made love.

* * *

Veronica stormed down the hall in DimCom, threw open her door, locked it and closed it, kicked off her slip-on shoes, and then started trashing her dormitory.

She just couldn't take it anymore.

She'd hoped for years that Trixie would tire of being in love with Timmy and that Trixie would let her have a turn having Timmy as a lover. But the breaking of the barriers between the rich and the poor was enough for Veronica; she refused to talk to Trixie, Tad, or Chad.

When she'd heard of Tad and Chad and their family being killed, she responded in only one word: "Good."

The final nail in the coffin was when Timmy had proposed to Trixie. That was when she knew it; Trixie would not back down from being married to Timmy Turner.

What girl in her situation would?

Veronica picked up her lamp, and with a shout of pure frustration, threw it into the wall. It shattered, plunging her into darkness.

_My life couldn't get any worse_, she thought, her mind filled with hate and anger and pathos as she trashed her dorm room. _I only want one thing, one STINKING thing: Timmy Turner's baby, and the universe can't even give me _that!?

"And so Veronica Star begins her downward spiral," said a voice behind her.

Her door was locked. No one was in when she locked it.

Ice in her spine, Veronica turned to face whoever this was.

It was a tall figure in white robes, with his hood drawn up over his head, hiding his face in shadows. She couldn't see much else of this guy, since the only other light source was the window, and there wasn't even much light coming from the windows.

"Who are you?" she couldn't help asking.

"I am..." he paused for a second. "I am...Professor Philadelphia Experiment."

"Umm, that's the name of a character in the _Clockguys_," Veronica said, raising an eyebrow. "If you're _totally_ gonna do somethin' to me, I don't have any money on me."

"I'm not here for money," said Professor Philadelphia Experiment. "I am here to help you."

What looked strangely like a pair of wings unfolded behind him. Though she couldn't see his eyes, Veronica noticed he seemed to be unable to meet her eyes, instead staring at her feet.

"How can you help me?" Veronica asked.

Philadelphia produced a vial from his sleeve. "With this: a potion I created." He handed it to Veronica.

She stared at the fluid within. It was translucent and colorless. It looked quite like water.

"This is a potion? What's it do?"

"I assure you," said Philadelphia, "It will give you what you want most in the world."

Veronica's heart skipped a beat. _Does he mean it?_ she thought.

"Really?"

"Really."

She raised an eyebrow suspiciously. As far as she knew, this was just some sort of drug to lessen her inhibitions that would allow this guy to rape her or something.

"How do I know that you're _totally_ telling the truth?" she asked.

Philadelphia looked at her bed.

It floated into the air.

Veronica gasped.

"How are you doing that?" she asked.

"I can do anything," said Philadelphia. "It is my nature."

The bed floated back down to the floor.

Veronica looked back at the vial, staring at the contents within.

"So, this can give me what I want most...?"

"The child of Timmy Turner?"

"Yeah," said Veronica, still numb with excitement.

But...could she trust this guy who she'd never even met before?

Could this potion _really_ give her the child of Timmy Turner?

* * *

Trixie laid naked in bed next to her fiancé, their clothes forgotten next to the bed after their lovemaking. She still felt her heart pounding against her ribcage, even though they had reached the climax some minutes ago. Wiping sweat off her forehead, she turned to look at Timmy.

"That was..._beautiful_, Timmy."

He smiled at her. "Not as beautiful as you."

She softly put a hand on the side of his head. "God, I love you."

"I love you, too. And in a few months we're gonna be married, my love."

Trixie smiled. "I'm looking forward to it."

And she kissed him.

_More than you can imagine_, she thought, her heart warm with her boundless love for him.

* * *

One month later...

Trixie stood over the toilet bowl, having just emptied the contents of her stomach for what seemed like the fourth time the past three days. The first two times she thought it was just a stomach virus, and ignored it. After the third trip to the bathroom, though, she knew it had to be something much more serious.

And worse: she skipped her period.

She had never really considered the notion of being pregnant; it did seem ridiculous to her, but it would explain a lot of things.

Just to be sure, she went out to the store and bought a pregnancy test.

She also bought some odds and ends of makeup and the like, and hid the pregnancy test in her pocket as she walked through the living room.

She didn't want her mom suspecting anything.

Putting the makeup and hair-care products on the bed, she walked into her bathroom, used the pregnancy test, and looked at the little window.

_**---**_

Timmy was just sitting on the couch, his parents having gone out to the Wall-2-Wall Mart, holding his little sister Tabitha on his lap, bouncing her up and down...

_DING-DONG!_

"That was fast," Timmy muttered. "Sorry Tabby, but big brother Timmy's gotta answer the door."

Tabitha just smiled at her older brother as he set her in her high chair.

Timmy opened the door, and saw...

"Trix-mmph!"

She had silenced him by kissing him fiercely and forcing her tongue into his mouth as he said her name. While he didn't not want this, it was quite unexpected.

After about ten seconds, she pulled away and Timmy saw her face clearly.

She looked, somehow, both excited and anxious at the same time about something. Her eyes were quite unreadable, but seemed to be storming with so many emotions that Timmy's head spun just looking at them.

Then she embraced him tightly, leaning her head into his chest. Timmy heard her crying.

Timmy put his arms around her, putting one hand on her back, and the other behind her head.

After a moment of patient waiting, Trixie spoke in a cracking voice.

"I'm scared, Timmy."

"What is there to be scared of?" he asked.

"I'm scared of what's going to happen. To us. To _me_. I don't know if I'll make it through."

"Through what?"

"Don't hate me for this, Timmy."

And before he could ask how he could hate her, Trixie looked into Timmy's eyes, and Timmy was shocked into silence by the pure unrestrained fear in her eyes.

Then she said the three words that changed his life forever.

"Timmy...I'm pregnant."

At these words, a surge of emotion swept through Timmy.

Shock came first. He was going to be a father.

Then the shock gave way to excitement and anticipation such that he was nearly overwhelmed by the feeling.

He was going to be a father!

Then a thought went through his mind that brought him back down to Earth:

_How will our parents respond?_

And he decided, he would worry about his parents - and Trixie's parents - later.

First, he had to worry about Trixie.

"This...this is...wonderful, Trixie," Timmy told her, his voice full of such warmth and love that Trixie's look of trepidation gave way as though some naggine, chronic pain had vanished into memory.

Then Trixie threw her arms around Timmy's neck and she began crying what were apparently tears of joy into his shoulder.

Timmy placed his arms about her waist, a hand on either side of her stomach.

Trixie's child - _his_ child - was in there.

"I've never been happier in my life, Trixie," Timmy said softly in her ear. "Know that."

"What about your parents? What about my _mom_?" And as she looked into Timmy's eyes, he saw just a fleeting shadow of the fear she'd shown when she revealed her pregnancy to him.

"I wouldn't worry about any of that. My parents will be okay with it, since we're engaged already. I'm sure your dad will be fine with it, and your mom... well, I hope that she goes along with it."

_**---**_

"Mom? Dad? Me and Trixie have something to tell you about."

Timmy & Trixie had decided to wait until Timmy's parents had gotten settled before telling them about the fact that they were to be grandparents.

So now Timmy & Trixie stood with Timmy's parents as the latter two held their infant Tabitha.

"What is it, Timmy?" asked Timmy's mom as her and her husband gave Timmy & Trixie concerned looks.

And for a moment, Trixie - and Timmy too, she noticed - was robbed of speech. What if Timmy was wrong? What if his parents didn't like this? What if they reacted to this the way she knew her mother would; what if they told Timmy that they should get an abortion?

But no. Timmy never led her astray before. He would not lead her astray now.

Coming out of herself, Trixie realized she had placed a hand on her stomach as she heard Timmy say, "Mom, Dad..."

"We're expecting," Trixie cut Timmy off. She felt obligated to it.

Timmy's parents froze in place, stunned looks on their faces. Then Timmy's mom slowly placed Tabitha back in her crib (Tabitha looked slightly puzzled at the behavior of her parents).

Trixie suddenly felt helpless. They didn't like it!

Then...

"Now Timmy, you know I was only kidding when I told you not to wait too long to have kids," said Timmy's mom in a scolding tone.

But was it serious?

Timmy smiled hopefully, "So, you like it?"

Then Timmy's dad let out a high-pitched scream and said, "Timmy's gonna be a daddy? I'm gonna be a grampa? YAY!" Then he pointed out the window at no one in particular. "In your face, Dinkleberg!"

"...Uhh Dad, we moved when I was twelve. Remember?"

Timmy's mom threw her arms around Timmy in a bear hug.

"Oh my little boy! He's growing up so fast!"

"Urkh, Mom... I can't...breathe..."

"Oh, sorry Timmy, it's just...I'm so happy!"

And she looked it; there were tears in her eyes.

"So, you're not angry?" Trixie asked, hopeful.

Timmy's mother said to Trixie, "Well, you two could have waited until after you were married, but we understand. Do you think that the first time me and Butch did 'it' was after we got married?"

Timmy clenched his hands over his ears. "Bad mental image, mom!"

"So, do Trixie's parents know yet?" asked Timmy's mom.

"Not yet, but we've gotta go tell them. I just hope that Trixie's mom goes along with it."

_**---**_

"I absolutely refuse to go along with this!" shouted Beatrix. "You two aren't even out of college yet, and you're already getting married, and having a kid at that?! WHEN WILL IT END?!"

"It will end when you realize that, like it or not, Timmy and I are going to keep our baby," said Trixie, standing before her mother, holding Timmy's hand tightly. "I can't see myself being with anyone _but_ Timmy. He's the only person I know who has loved me for who I am and respected me for it. Apart from you, dad," she said, stealing a slight glance at her father and smiling at him.

"Of course I respect you, Trixie, but..."

"But what? You don't respect me when I want to live my own life?"

Beatrix seemed to stumble over herself verbally for several seconds, before pointing at her daughter, "Now see here, young lady, I've--..."

"Ahem," said Nigel. Beatrix wheeled on him.

Nigel said clearly and simply, "You do remember that we agreed on letting Trixie be happy, didn't we?"

Now Beatrix sounded and looked desperate, "But Nigel, honey, she's _pregnant_, for God's sake! She can't possibly finish college if she has some screaming kid at home!"

"I'll take off for a few years, till I know the baby is self-dependent," Trixie said, reassuring her mother and herself as well. "And Sammy can look after it around that time, when Jessie's old enough."

"But Trixie, we've spent unreal amounts of money to get you into that college!" Beatrix insisted.

"And we still have unreal amounts of money, don't we?" Trixie retorted. "I don't see any problem in my dropping out of college for a few years."

"Neither do I," said Nigel.

Beatrix was apparently flustered. "I--...But...He's...You...This...UGH!" She slumped her shoulders, glaring at them all. "Fine! If I'm gonna be ruled out like this..." Suddenly, she bolted out of the room.

"What?" said Timmy. They listened in silence as they heard sounds of thumps and clunks from the master bedroom directly overhead.

Beatrix stormed back in several minutes later, with a pair of suitcases apparently filled with her clothes and makeup.

"...I'm leaving! Don't look for me!" She then turned to look at Trixie. "You're heading for a fall, Trixie. Remember that. You made the wrong choice, just like my sister, defecating on our bloodline by accepting this _pirate_'s spawn." And without another word, Beatrix stormed out the door, hailing a taxi, and driving off down the street.

Timmy, Trixie, and Nigel stood there in silence.

"I'm sorry, Dad."

"What for?"

"You loved Mom, and my baby drove her away. I shouldn't have even told you in the first place." Trixie put a hand on her stomach. "Maybe I should just get rid of it. Maybe that'll bring Mom back."

"Don't," said Nigel with a hint of urgency. "I'm old, Trixie. I've lived my life. Don't try to live my life for me. There's nothing that you can do to bring her back. And I don't think that she would come back even if you did what you're thinking of doing."

Then Nigel brought his daughter into a hug.

"You have no idea how happy this gift of yours makes me," he said, putting a hand where his grandchild was growing.

Trixie felt tears stinging her eyes. Were they happy or sad? She didn't know.

"Thank you, dad."

_**---**_

Timmy & Trixie knocked on the door of room number 21-87 in the Hartman Building on the DimCom campus.

"Come in," said Professor Showenhower, head of the Psychology department, and also the faculty member in charge of admissions and resignations.

Timmy & Trixie entered, and they explained the situation to Professor Showenhower and their desire to resign from DimCom temporarily.

"Well, I'll deal with your resignations from Dimmsdale Community College as soon as possible," said Professor Showenhower, turning to her computer and typing on the computer for a minute. Timmy & Trixie just stood there in front of Professor Showenhower's desk as she did her work.

"There," she said finally. "Your accounts have been temporarily suspended from our database."

"Thanks, Professor Showenhower," said Timmy, an arm around Trixie. "I'm sure you'll be seeing us again in a few years."

"I plan on it," said Professor Showenhower, running a hand through her long auburn hair.

Trixie said, "So - now don't take this the wrong way - but, you're in your mid-twenties, right?"

"Right."

"How did someone as young as you end up having such a big job at DimCom?"

Professor Showenhower offered a slightly sly smile. "Let's just say I have the connections."

Timmy squinted slightly at Showenhower. "You know, I think I might have seen you on TV before."

Professor Showenhower smiled a little wider. "Yes, I think you may have."

Then Timmy's short attention span kicked in.

"Well, thanks for the help, Mrs. Showenhower!" he said as he & Trixie left again.

Timmy & Trixie sat down on a bench near the parking lot where Timmy had parked his car.

"Well, that went smoother than I thought," said Trixie.

"I guess it's that she's close to our age, and can understand how we go about things," Timmy said.

Trixie kissed Timmy on the cheek.

"You know what this means, right?" she said softly.

"Mm-hmm," smiled Timmy, placing a hand on Trixie's stomach. "Two months of nothing but you, and me, and Baby Turner here, before we get married on June 31st."

Trixie smiled at Timmy. "I love you both so much. You and the baby."

"I love you two, too," said Timmy as he pulled Trixie in for a kiss.

* * *

(**Note: **Well, I decided to take a little break from 'Over Spring Hill' for a little bit. I want to finish writing this thing ASAP, and I'm sure all of you guys reading this want to see this thing come to a close too.

I'm sure that the slightly more realistic take and the more frank references to real-life phenomena like lovemaking were somewhat offputting to some of you, but it's a tough transition to make, from child to adult. And Timmy's made that transition at the end of _Lastday_.

And what could 'Professor Philadelphia Experiment' have in mind with Veronica?

Looks like Beatrix has had it up to here with Timmy & Trixie. Will she come back?

Of course, only I know for sure the answers to all these questions.

And a cookie goes to whoever correctly guesses who Professor Showenhower is!

Well, I'm getting a brain burn-out right now, so I'm just gonna say one last thing:

Keep on reading!)


	16. Chapter 15

(**Disclaimer:** You got the idea. I don't own anyone or anything I didn't make up.)

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

**CHAPTER 15: Tying the Knot**

"So Timmy, where do you plan on taking my daughter for your honeymoon?" asked Timmy's soon-to-be father-in-law.

It had been a month since Beatrix had packed her clothes and stormed out, and plans for the wedding had progressed relatively smoothly without her presence. It was now a week until that magical day when their once entwined destinies would finally be joined. The house Timmy had spent his childhood in was bought for him again by Trixie, and furnished for some new inhabitants when they got back from their honeymoon. It was the sort of house Beatrix Tang would not want her daughter to live in. Which was perhaps why she left in the first place.

Timmy regretted his future mother-in-law's disappearance, and in some way felt responsible.

But, Timmy realized, he wasn't the one that chose for Beatrix to leave; _Beatrix_ chose to walk out on her family. No one, not even through hypnosis, could control anyone into doing something they did not want to do.

There was no such thing as _Harry Potter_'s Imperius Curse in this real world they lived in.

And speaking of _Harry Potter_...

"I just placed my reservations at the Royal Pacific Resort near Universal Studios in Florida," Timmy told Nigel, his father-in-law-to-be.

Nigel cocked an eyebrow, "You must really wanna treat her, Timmy. There's a Universal Studios near Hollywood, you know."

Timmy cracked a smile, "I know, but _they_ don't have the Islands of Adventure, and _they_ just opened their 'seventh island' at Islands of Adventure there a year or two ago: the Wizarding World of Harry Potter."

Nigel's eyebrows attempted a rendezvous with his receding hairline as he smiled knowingly. "She loves those books, Timmy. And I'm sure she'll love you for this."

"I know," Timmy smirked.

_**---**_

Timmy & Trixie sent out invitations to all of their friends and family, asking if they would like to come to the wedding. It was of no surprise to them that most of the replies they received in turn were numerous variations on the phrase 'I'd love to come'.

Nor were they surprised that Beatrix sent no reply either - for she was invited, too.

And so Timmy & Trixie spent the last seven days leading up to the wedding with his parents, and Trixie with her father. They had decided to spend the days leading up to the marriage apart from each other. It was never a conscious decision on either of their parts; it was as though it was natural for the two of them to reach that decision.

Trixie noticed the symbolism in the gesture, even if Timmy didn't. In many respects, it was that first day in kindergarten that they attributed to their love. It was love at first sight, and - for Trixie's part - denial at first accusation. It was the first time they ever laid eyes on each other that they realized the truth of their lives...

Their two separate lives would become one one day.

So, by extension, they were married from their first day at kindergarten, and this marriage was simply making it official.

That was the symbolism Trixie noticed.

Trixie simply sat with her father at dinner one night, one week to the day before their vows of holy matrimony.

"Dad?"

"Hmm?" He looked up from his dinner.

"I hate sounding so self-absorbed, but... it's--...I'm worried about--..."

"Putting on a few pounds over the next few months?"

Trixie nodded. "Yeah. I'm not...I mean, I don't know. Will Timmy still love me when I'm getting rounder all the time?"

Nigel smiled. "I'm sure he will. You're a spitting image of your mother, Trixie, but you're just..."

"Nicer?" Trixie finished with a slight smile.

Nigel chuckled a little. "Without a doubt. I mean, she did put on a bit of weight when she was pregnant with you, but it's natural for all women to go through that phase. Even the Ultra-Recyclo Vegetarians, like your mother."

Trixie and her father laughed at this remark, and the meal progressed as before until Trixie decided to spend some time in her room reading the epilogue to _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ again.

_**---**_

Nigel sat at the table after his daughter left for a few more moments.

_Timmy _does _seem the type_, he thought. _I don't doubt that he's a good match for Trixie. They've been together for almost five years now. And they're going to be parents, and I'm going to be a grandfather! ...Bea didn't deign to have Trixie the natural way. I just hope Trixie has her baby the way most mothers should, not the way Julius Ceasar would have. It would be a good sign, that I raised her right._

_**---**_

Timmy's cell phone was ringing.

He picked up his cell phone and looked at the caller ID; he saw the name.

_Professor Showenhower?_ he thought. _Why's she calling me?_ Pushing this thought to the back of his mind (_It might be important, something about college_, he thought), he clicked the Answer button.

"Hello?"

_"Timmy?"_

"What is it, Mrs. Showenhower?"

_"Please, Timmy, we're not in class. Call me Jasmine, or Jazz. That's what my friends call me."_

"Sure..." Timmy smiled. "Jazz."

_"Thanks."_

"So, may I ask why you're calling, Jazz?"

_"So, I heard that you and your _girlfriend_ Trixie are get--..."_

"Sorry, Jazz," Timmy cut across Jazz, "But why'd you emphasize 'girlfriend' like that?"

_"Sorry. Little family joke. But as I was saying, you and Trixie are getting married soon, aren't you?"_

"...Yeah. We were the ones who told you."

Jazz chuckled a little on the other end.

_"Anyway, I was wondering if you would like it if I could come to the wedding."_

However, the prospect of his Psychology teacher attending his wedding was the last thing on Timmy's mind.

Howeve his short attention span drove any questions from his mind.

"Sure. Sounds great. But why?"

_"...Well, why not? Besides, I always liked you & Trixie."_

"Thanks, Jazz."

_"Don't mention it."_

"Okay, I won't."

Jazz and Timmy laughed.

_"I'll see you at the wedding then."_

"Okay."

_"Bye, Timmy."_

"Bye."

Clicking the End Call button, Timmy immediately began calling Trixie's number.

Just because they couldn't see each other the week before the wedding, didn't mean they couldn't talk to each other.

_"Timmy?"_

"Trixie, I got a bit of news for you."

_"What is it?"_

"Professor Showenhower just called."

Timmy heard the smirk in her response, _"Lemme guess, you got an A-plus on her 'Ghost Envy' essay and she thinks the Apocalypse will happen tomorrow?"_

"Heh. Not exactly. More along the lines of her wanting to go to our wedding."

_"...Are you joking?"_

"No."

_"That's awful nice of her. Well, giving you twenty bucks would be nice, too."_

Timmy & Trixie laughed out loud. Timmy wiped a tear from his eye before continuing.

"Well, Jazz didn't say anything--..."

_"That's Mrs. Showenhower's first name, Jazz?"_

"How did you know?"

_"I take the time to learn my teacher's first names when I'm at school. Did you know Mr. Crocker's first name was Denzel?"_

"Really? I forgot."

_"Thank you, short attention span!"_

More laughter.

_"Well, I guess I'll see you at the wedding, then."_

"Yeah."

_"Be prepared to hear some familiar music there."_

"What song did you choose?"

_"You'll see."_ Timmy could sense his love smiling on the other end.

"Alright. Bye."

_"I love you."_

"I love you more."

End Call.

* * *

Timmy stepped out of the car onto the sidewalk outside the Marmel Church, just on the outskirts of the city, the light reflected from the mirrored surfaces of the skyscrapers giving the already pearly church an even greater heavenly aura.

This was it.

Today was the day.

The past month of having never seen Trixie - though having spoke to her - was almost torturous. But now, at long last, they would be together forever.

It must have been like that old saying went: "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"So Timmy, you excited?" Timmy's mom asked, stepping out of the car. His parents had driven him to the Church, leaving Tabitha with Rudy & Tootie (they were getting married in the month after).

"Too much for words," he said. And it was true. He couldn't tell them how much this meant to him. Getting married to Trixie Tang. Formerly the most popular girl in school. And now the most beautiful girl in the world.

With a smile frozen on his face, Timmy entered the Church, his parents following.

_**---**_

Trixie was already there, wearing the wedding dress and facing away from a floor to ceiling mirror. Sammy, her maid of honor, was just tying the veil to the white version of Trixie's childhood headband that she shall wear to the wedding.

"There," said Sammy, smiling. "Have a look at yourself."

Looking herself over, Trixie couldn't help noticing that she looked rather pretty. Her fears of looking unattractive due to her pregnancy were unfounded, even though her belly was showing slightly through her dress; if anything, Trixie thought that she looked like she was glowing a little.

Her father walked in.

"Trixie, you look dazzling," he said, smiling broadly.

Trixie smiled back at him. "I look good?"

"Mm-hmm. Just a sec," Nigel walked up to his daughter - Sammy stepped out of her uncle's path - and adjusted Trixie's veil. "There," he said, stepping away.

Trixie saw his eyes sparkling.

"You look absolutely stunning, Trixie," he said, beaming.

"Timmy will just eat you up," Sammy added.

Trixie couldn't help it; this was no time to doubt herself. In spite of all the hardships and the grief and the trials that she and Timmy had endured in the long uphill battle of love...

She smiled.

All of that would pay off shortly.

_**---**_

This is how it feels to be married:

Timmy Turner stands at the altar, dressed in an immaculate white, his best man Chester McBadbat standing beside him. Bridesmaid Tootie Victorson (she was not yet married) and usher AJ Ibrahim stand on his other side.

At least a hundred people are in attendance of the union of the Turner and Tang families. And almost as many are from various news stations broadcasting this to the rest of Dimmsdale.

Trixie certainly hasn't lost her popularity in an unofficial sense.

Timmy feels nervous.

_This is it_, he thinks. _I'm so excited and nervous at once I could burst! But I've got to keep myself steady, even with so many people here; even Grampa managed to--... What's that?_

For a song begins playing. At first Timmy doesn't recognize it.

Then his mouth drops open, because he recognizes it as _My Destiny_, Princess Elise's theme song from the V-Cube game _Sonic the Hedgehog_.

This is Trixie's song.

Timmy notices Jazz sitting beside a bald, gray-skinned man near to the front. A pair of lime-green headphones were set in Jazz's ears.

_I'll ask her about those at the reception_, he thinks.

The doors open again.

An angel enters the cathedral.

Timmy's jaw drops again.

Trixie, radiant in her pure dress, almost looks to be emitting a faint light of her own. A soft eternal smile blesses her face, a loving sparkle in her eyes as she approaches the altar with flowing motion. Sammy trails behind, holding Trixie's train off the ground to make sure the angel doesn't stumble.

Trixie reaches the altar, smiles glowingly at Timmy, then faces the priest. Timmy follows suite moments later as Sammy stands beside Tootie.

The priest speaks,

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, to bear witness to the union of these two young people, who bond themselves together, sharing life, love, and all the trials that will come before them. Though none can foretell the future, we all wish for great happiness and bounty for this couple. May the Father of all creation, in His great wisdom, bestow His blessing upon them for all time."

The priest faces Trixie,

"Beatrix Elizabeth Tang, do you take Timothy Tiberius Turner to be your husband, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, to remain faithful to him for as long as you both shall live?"

Trixie bows her head, soft pink showing through on her cheeks. With a loving smile,

"I do."

With a short nod, the priest turns to Timmy,

"Timothy Tiberius Turner, do you take Beatrix Elizabeth Tang to be your wife, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, to remain faithful to her for as long as you both shall live?"

Nodding slowly, Timmy smiles as he says,

"I do."

The priest addresses those in attendance,

"If there is anyone here who has any reason why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace."

There is no sound of any objections from anywhere in the cathedral.

Facing the bride and bridegroom again, the priest addresses the page beside him,

"Let there now be the giving and receiving of a gold ring, symbolizing oneness and unbreakable faith to one another for all time."

The page - whom Timmy recognizes as his Aunt Gertrude's grandson, Jerry MacFarlane, and his cousin once removed - walks up, presenting a cushion with twin rings of gold glittering on it. Taking one as one with Trixie, Timmy slid the band of gold onto one of Trixie's delicate fingers as she did the same with his ring.

Smiling, the priest said,

"Then, by the power vested in me, with God as my witness, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Trixie leaps into Timmy's arms and pressed her lips to his. The world around them vanishes, time slows to nothing, and all that exist are them.

Timmy & Trixie Turner.

The knot is tied.

In their sweet oblivion, neither notice the rousing applause that they are receiving, or the flashes of light of the numberless cameras set around the place...

Or Beatrix Tang the First standing in the back, holding a camera as well, taking pictures of the events and then briskly departing.

Or the pink and green Fairies floating overhead, smiling at the newlyweds, a bundle in their arms. Vanishing in a puff of pink smoke.

Timmy & Trixie break the kiss, and gaze deeply into each other's eyes.

And Timmy feels a deeper connection to Trixie - his love, his life, his _wife_ - than ever he did before.

He reads her soul in her eyes, and his is a book in his own eyes for her own perusal.

And he knows.

She wants their baby to look like him.

And they know.

They will.

_My Destiny_ ends.

This is how it feels to be married.

_**---**_

Timmy walked through the reception, mingling with his friends and family (including his new relatives that were Trixie's as well).

"Ohh, Timmy, I'm _soo_ proud of you!" said his Aunt Gertrude, pinching his cheeks as she'd done whenever he'd visit her or she'd visit him when he was very young.

_Man, I wish I had cheeks of steel_, he thought. _And by that, I mean my_ face_-cheeks!_

"Umm, thanks, Aunt Gertrude," said Timmy.

"You're welcome, dearie," she replied, smiling warmly as she trotted off with her grandson Jerry.

"We're proud of you too, Timmy!" said Timmy's dad, approaching with Timmy's mom (Tina was left at Mr. and Mrs. Victorson's house, now that Vicky had moved out), and carrying a video camera.

"I wish you and Trixie so much love and joy," said Timmy's mom, embracing her son tightly.

"Ugh...Mom...oxygen..."

"Oh! Sorry, sweetie," Timmy's mom released him.

"Timmy?" said Chester from across the room.

Timmy turned to face him; Chester was raising a wine glass in Timmy's direction, wearing a slightly musty suit that looked like it had been in a dumpster for years. Which it probably was.

"I knew you since we were in kindergarten, and we were always close friends. Well, not always," he paused as some people laughed at his addition. "Not always, because we were stupid kids who sometimes put our other interests ahead of our friends. But our friendship stood the test of time, and is stronger because of it. You're my brother in all but blood.

"I'm sure you already know this, Timmy, but I never thought you had a chance with the woman who's currently carrying your baby," More titters from the listeners ("Ahh, these modern whippersnappers are having kids younger every year!" lamented Timmy's grandfather.), "So you can imagine my surprise when Sammy told me you two got together. Now you two are married, and all the happier for it. I love you both, and I hope you and Trixie have a bright future ahead of you.

"To Timmy Turner," Chester raised his wine glass.

"Timmy Turner," echoed the attendants, raising their glasses as well, then raising their glasses to drink.

"And to Trixie Turner," added Chester, with his glass still in the air.

"Trixie Turner," repeated the attendants as they hastily raised their glasses again, waited a few moments for any further additions, then drained their glasses as one.

Timmy felt his heart swelling at the thought of Chester's speech, and vowed to ask his parents if they'd filmed it.

"Timmy," said Nigel, approaching Timmy, standing beside his in-laws, "When's the flight to the honeymoon?"

"In about four hours," he told his father-in-law. "So don't worry, me & Trixie still have time for cake and stuff. Is Trixie all packed?"

"Her stuff is already loaded into our limousine."

"And the limo?"

"Waiting outside, with your stuff, too, ready to leave whenever you want."

Timmy smiled, "Good. Glad I made the decision to marry your daughter."

Father-in-law and son-in-law chuckled, and Nigel walked off to speak with his daughter.

Then Timmy spotted Jazz and her bald companion. He approached. Now that he was closer, he saw that the bald man wore opulent red-and-black clothes and had a very long nose.

"Jazz?"

"Oh, hi Timmy," said Jazz, shaking Timmy's hand. "This is my husband, Frederich Isak Showenhower. Call him Fred."

"Nice to meet you, Fred," Timmy shook Fred's hand.

"The feeling is mutual, Timothy," Fred replied in a silky voice.

Timmy nearly started; this man's eyes were a very penetrating red. Not menacing, but a little unnerving.

"Umm...if you don't mind me asking, how'd you two get together?"

Jazz shrugged. "It's a long story, but in short, we met, found something in common, and after a few years of separation, we met again..."

"And we hit it off from there," Fred put an arm around Jazz, pulling her in close. Jazz's cheeks burned pink, her hand inching to her abdomen.

"How were you two separated?"

For the first time since he'd seen them, Jazz & Fred's expressions darkened.

"Trust me, some things are better left unsaid," Jazz said curtly, and with a finality that told Timmy that this was not a subject to pursue.

Timmy took note of the green headphones again.

"What are those headphones, Jazz?"

"What, these?" asked Jazz, feeling the phones. "These are Phones, made by my parents to keep in contact with the family, and to filter out any behavior-influencing Ghost attacks."

Timmy almost prepared to ask who her parents were, but he saw them bringing the cake out. The cake had seven layers, golden stars sprinkled across it, and two figurines on top made in the likeness of the newlyweds. It was beautiful, but not as much as Trixie.

Soon, virtually everyone in the place had a slice of cake to eat and something to say to the newlyweds. Most of them Timmy had never met before, leading him to believe they were only here because they'd worshipped Trixie in school. During this time, Timmy heard AJ, Elmer, and Sanjay's speeches, all of which touched him deeply, even though many of the five-dollar words AJ used went completely over his head.

He hoped that his & Trixie's new house had a dictionary in it.

"_There_ you are!" said Trixie, finally catching up to Timmy and pecking him on the cheek. "I thought I lost you already."

Timmy beamed at his wife, "Don't worry, you'll never lose me."

Trixie smiled, holding up her fork, which held a piece of cake on the end, "Say 'Ahh'."

"Ahh," said Timmy, as Trixie fed him a piece of cake.

The corner of Trixie's lips tilted up in a half-smirk. "You got a piece stuck in your bucked teeth."

"I do?" he said, trying to look down at it.

Trixie grinned, chuckling a little. "You already said that," she picked the piece of cake from his teeth and popped it into her mouth.

Timmy felt his cheeks burning. Trixie chuckled a little, apparently at his blush.

"How's Baby Turner enjoying the cake?"

Trixie's smile widened as she placed a soft hand on her abdomen. "I'd say he's enjoying it."

"'He'? How do you know it's a boy?" Timmy asked, smirking.

Trixie's two-word reply was somewhat sly. "Motherly intuition."

"I bet that it's a girl." He knelt down till he was at level with Trixie's slightly protrudent belly. "And if she's even half as beautiful as her mother, I'll be the happiest man in the world." He kissed her stomach.

Trixie's perfect teeth were exposed in the grin she was now wearing. Then her expression turned slightly more serious. "When do we have to catch the flight to the honeymoon?"

Timmy froze, and checked his watch. "It's that time already?! We've gotta leave now if we wanna get there in time!" People all around turned in confusion and mild alarm at his suddenly loud behavior. He grabbed Trixie's arm and started for the exit, then turned to face everyone.

"Sorry people, but me and Trixie have a plane to catch. Thanks for coming!" He turned, and ran into his parents and Nigel.

"Well, I guess I'll see you after the honeymoon," said Nigel. "Take care, you two." He gave his son-in-law a warm hug, and gave his daughter a hug and kiss good-bye as Timmy's parents bade him farewell as well.

_I'll admit, I'll miss Mom and Dad_, he thought as he walked out to the limo with Trixie. But still, me & Trixie are finally married, and we finally have two weeks of 'us' time to be ourselves.

"To the airport, Mr. Turner?" said the man standing beside the limo. Apparently the driver.

"Yes, Mr. Feng," Timmy said as he stood before the door. "Ladies first," he gestured for Trixie to enter.

Trixie put a hand to her mouth. "Why, Mr. Turner, I'm surprised at you? What on Earth would make you think I'm a lady?"

"Well, the fact that you have a bun in the oven," he replied with a sly grin.

Trixie smirked in kind, "You got me." She climbed in the car, sitting down near the left window. Timmy climbed in and sat beside her.

"Mind if I stare at you for a little bit?" he asked.

The reply in her eyes told him that she welcomed this. He stared hungrily at her; he'd never be able to get enough of looking at her. The shape of her nose, her lips, her jawline, her neck, everything was so perfect that he felt himself so lucky to have been lucky with love.

"To the airport, sir?" asked Mr. Feng from the driver's seat, jolting Timmy from his reverie.

"Yes, Mr. Feng," he said, and he heard the electric motor start up and felt the limo lift from the ground and drive soundlessly down the street towards the airport.

"So, tell me, unless you want to keep it a secret forever:" Trixie asked after a few minutes, "Where is our honeymoon?"

Timmy smiled at her.

"So, which House do you think you'll be Sorted into?"

Trixie raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You ever hear of Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure?"

"...Yeah?" Then her eyes widened. "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter?!" she asked hopefully.

Timmy just grinned at her.

"Oh Timmy!" Evidently elated, he threw her arms around him, kissing him repeatedly on the cheek. "I - love - you - so - _much_!"

Timmy felt redder than a tomato each time he felt her beautiful lips touched him. "Glad I made you happy."

"Happy? I'm _elated_!" she wrapped her arms tightly around him as they drew ever nearer to the airport, tears of joy in her eyes. "I could produce the world's best Patronus."

* * *

(**Note:** Wow, I was out of it for a while. But trust me, I had a good reason. I had my first job this summer! And so, any 'me' time I had was somewhat limited. I had to finish this chapter now, because I start college on Monday.

As for this chapter, yes, there is going to be a new _Harry Potter_-themed Island added to Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida. Don't believe me? Check Universal Studios' official site at 'www dot universalorlando dot com slash harrypotter'. I nearly had them go to Port Royal for their honeymoon, because Timmy's ancestor Will Turner lived there two and a half centuries' prior to HEA, but I thought otherwise, since I already established Timmy & Trixie as avert HP fans. Coupled with the fact that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is set to open sometime in 2009, it all fell into place (remember, this is in the Summer of 2011 right now).

Originally, Thomas was going to be Timmy's middle name, but the Lucky 77 revealed that it is actually Tiberius. I've decided to stick with that official name. Also, that last secret (about a new character, possibly a baby, being added to the show) could contradict this majorly. In just such a case, I could end up having to massively rewrite large sections of this fanfiction for continuity reasons. This rewrite might show up here sometime, but I can't say when at this point.

And for those who are concerned, yes, that is Freakshow as Jazz's husband. For anyone who has any questions about this, I'll be happy to send a PM to you explaining how their relationship came about.

As per Sunflorazumarill's request, I managed to work Elise's theme, _My Destiny_, from _Sonic the Hedgehog_ for the PS3, into HEA. You like? To listen to it, search on YouTube for 'sonic my destiny'.

Don't for an instant think that Timmy & Trixie will get into any trouble on their honeymoon or at the airport. Big Brother Xythimot and the Shinwux are leaving them be...for now.

May the Force be with you!)


	17. Chapter 16

(**Disclaimer:** You got the idea. I don't own anyone or anything I didn't make up.)

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

* * *

**CHAPTER 16: Birth**

The two-week honeymoon had been the happiest period of their lives. Much of the time down there had been spent in the Islands of Adventure - specifically, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - though they also spent quite a bit of time at the main Universal Studios park, and at the parks in Walt Disney World. Of course, Trixie had to, very reluctantly, steer clear of the more thrilling rides and attractions; they didn't want anything bad to happen to the baby.

Timmy & Trixie rode in the limousine on the trip from the airport, the jet lag very apparent; though they slept on the flight back to Dimmsdale, they had to remain wide awake during landing and collecting their luggage - Mr. Feng, who had found the young Turners quite easily, had been quite insistent on carrying the heavier luggage for Trixie, not wanting to take any chances regarding her pregnancy - but now that they were safe in the limo, they could rest all they wanted.

Timmy felt Trixie resting in his arms, her breast rising and falling with each breath she took. Smiling, he kissed her softly on the head, his hand feeling the soft fullness of her belly. He was so happy. As a kid, he remembered how he used to have the biggest crush on her, and would have done anything to be here. He thanked his lucky stars that he'd scored the most beautiful girl in California.

Scratch that. The most beautiful girl in the _world_.

Timmy beamed at his love as she slept, watching her chest rise up and fall down...

Rising up...

Falling down...

_...Rising up into the air before the Maximum Security Prison, the normally pink clouds now bleak and gray with night; lightning crackled in the sky; though the prison looked unremarkable, he knew of something occurring within those walls that would aid in the destabilizing of his enemy._

_Invisible, intangible, in Ghost mode, the Big Brother eyed the Ecto-Sapien Sector of the Maximum Security Prison. He'd been feeling the ecto-radiation from here for months now, and he was quite certain that it would happen soon. Of course, the Prison's sensors were not quite so sensitive as to pick up what was doubtless an Invisible Ectoplasmic Energy Blast, but _his_ powers were. It was only a matter of time._

_As expected, there it was._

_With a deafening boom that he saw but barely felt, a wall of the Prison blasted open in an explosion of orange ectoplasm._

_In a series of _poof_'s, many operatives of the FW Specter Repulsion Squad appeared around the Prison, alerted by the myriad of alarms the security breach had triggered._

_Standing in the harsh white light emanating from the fissure in the wall were two figures - one male and very muscular, the other female and lithe - both with burning-orange eyes - that the Big Brother recognized as two of the most powerful Ghosts since Pariah Dark himself._

_Well, _one_ of them was a full-Ghost at any rate._

_At that moment, the Big Brother heard the female escapee cackling at her escape. With that, her male companion and her took to the sky, flying right at him, several Level 10 and Level 11 Ghosts following; the prison-breakers effortlessly blasted aside any SRS grunts that attempted to restrain them._

_And the Big Brother knew then, it was by greatest fortune that he decided to come here tonight. Doombringer and his half-breed daughter were too powerful, too old, and too strong-willed to be coerced into aiding his cause, but if they were permitted to run free, Doombringer's daughter would likely make haste to Dimmsdale and make good her vendetta against he who must suffer the Big Brother's revenge above all else._

_So rather than assuming visibility and tangibility and attempting to earn the Ghosts' allegiance as he had originally intended, the Big Brother remained invisible and intangible, then reached out with his power and seized Doombringer and his daughter as they passed through him and teleported them to another location where he could prevent them - by any means necessary - from hurting Turner._

_Big Brother's vengeance must come first, and Turner must be protected until all debts were repaid._

_With interest._

_As for the other escapees, their allegiance was irrelevant. By escaping at all, they had aided his cause. Let them ravage this World; let them _destroy_ it for all the Big Brother cared. It would just make it easier for the Shinwux to sweep in and instate themselves as the chief supernatural race in the Universe, and send all others into a catatonic slumber from which they would not..._

"...wake up, Master Turner," said Mr. Feng's voice, and Timmy opened his eyes; he must have dozed off. He'd had the strangest dream, but he only remembered fragments of it. _Doombringer...escape...prison...revenge..._

"Whazzit, Misserfng?" he asked groggily, putting the dream out of his mind.

"We have arrived at you and your wife's new home," he said, gesturing outside. Looking blearily out, Timmy saw his old childhood home.

Now, his & Trixie's dream home.

With a soft smile, he nudged Trixie a little.

Trixie's eyelids fluttered open.

"Whatizzit?" she asked, not quite as groggy as Timmy.

_But then_, he thought, _she had more sleep than I did._

"We're home, love," he said.

Trixie looked out the limo window, saw the house, and her eyes sparkled. She stepped out, facing the house.

"I've always wanted to visit this house when we were kids," she said, beaming, "And now I'm gonna live here."

"So..." asked Timmy. "Should I carry you across the threshold?"

Trixie gave Timmy a smirk. "Give it a try, big boy."

Smirking in return, Timmy simply picked his wife up bridal style - Trixie yelped slightly and blushed - and as carried her through the door with Mr. Feng holding it open for them...

Timmy thought of that dream he'd had in the limo.

What did it mean? Who was this 'Big Brother' who he'd seen through the eyes of? Who were the Doombringers? And why did the Big Brother want revenge against him?

With a mental smirk, Timmy thought that he must be a Horcrux, holding a fragment of the Big Brother's soul inside him.

Nah. That was too _Harry Potter_. Magic wasn't real.

It couldn't be...

Could it?

"SURPRISE!" came the numerous shouts from inside.

There were Timmy's parents, Trixie's father, Chester & Sammy, Rudy & Tootie, and Sanjay; all standing around a table set to party for a group of ten - there was punch, Mud and Worms, pretzels, cheese curls, the works.

"Welcome back, newlyweds!" They shouted again. Strung across the wall was a large sign that read, 'Welcome back, Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Turner'.

Stunned, Timmy nearly dropped his wife, but composed himself and gently lowered her to her feet. She looked just as shocked - and, undoubtedly, felt as grateful - as Timmy did.

"Guys, you didn't need to do this..."

"But we did, because we thought that you'd like to come back home in style, Tim," said Chester.

All thought of the dream vanished from Timmy's mind; no need to drag anyone down by being preoccupied.

Besides, it wasn't like _he_ was involved. If he remembered correctly, there were _plenty_ of 'Timothy Turners' in Dimmsdale that the Big Brother could be after.

"Timmy, Trixie!" Tootie called out, hurrying over with Rudy in tow. "Guess what?" She held out a hand. A bright glint of gold.

Timmy smiled. "You got married while me and Trixie were in Florida?"

Rudy nodded, a smile seemingly frozen on his face. "And guess what else?"

Knowing what was coming, Timmy decided to look puzzled as - likely knowing what Rudy & Tootie would say - Trixie asked, "What?"

Forever beaming, Tootie's face shone as she said, "We're pregnant!"

Bingo.

"Congratulations!" said Trixie, smiling at the Reeds.

"I'm happy for you two," Timmy added.

"Thanks," said Rudy, wrapping his hands around Tootie's waist, both coming to rest over her stomach, causing Tootie to blush pink.

"Well, looks like Baby Turner here's gonna have another 'cousin' to play with," said Timmy, kneeling down towards Trixie's abdomen, which was protruding ever-so-slightly now.

"Hmm?" said Tootie, confused by 'another'.

"Along with Jessie, Chester's little girl."

"Oh."

"Hear that, sweetheart?" said Trixie in a sugary tone to her stomach. "You're gonna have a baby cousin!"

Putting an ear to Trixie's stomach - pretending to hear a reply, but not expecting one - Timmy was surprised to feel something against the side of his head that made his heart sing.

A pulse.

Trixie gasped. "Did you feel that?" she asked, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

"Mm-hmm," replied Timmy, putting his arms around Trixie and kissing her. Once. Twice. Three times.

Really, it shouldn't have been too surprising to the young couple - Trixie _was_ at least four months along now. They liked to think that their child had been conceived on the night of Timmy's 19th birthday, March 24th 2011 - and it was near the end of July now, after their wedding on July 15th and their two-week-long honeymoon in Florida.

"Get a room, kids," said Trixie's dad, approaching the embracing couple.

Timmy smiled. "Mr. Tang--..."

"Please, Timmy," said Nigel, "call me 'Dad'."

"Okay..." Timmy's mood impossibly soared to even higher levels of felicity. "...Dad."

"That's my name! Don't wear it out!" cried out Timmy's dad as he and his wife approached.

Trixie walked up to Timmy's parents with what he knew was mingled apprehension and excitement, and frankly, he wasn't really surprised; Trixie undoubtedly was looking forward to this moment for years, and to finally be experiencing it...he wouldn't be surprised if she was thinking at some level of her mind, _Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming!_

"And can I call you two 'Mom' and 'Dad'?" she asked.

"Why of course, dear," said Timmy's mom. "You're family to us now. Me and Butch are going to be grandparents because of you." Timmy's mom's voice cracked here, and stray tears streaked her face. "Sorry. I'm just...so happy."

"Me too," said Trixie, throwing her arms around Timmy's mom, shining trails of gratitude running down her face. "I need a Mom who's there for me. Who doesn't care what I make of myself. Who loves me." Timmy understood every word she said, though he knew that to most other people in the party, it would go over as tearful mumbling.

Timmy's mom, however, got the message.

"I'll be there, Trixie," she said, returning the embrace.

* * *

It was now September 23rd 2011, nearly two months since Timmy & Trixie had returned from their honeymoon.

As it turned out, though, not all had progressed quite so cheerily back home in Dimmsdale while Timmy & Trixie were in their world of magic.

_"AJ's gone,"_ Chester had told Timmy a week after Timmy & Trixie returned from their honeymoon. Chester, naturally, had sounded rather anxious.

Timmy heard it, but didn't register it.

"Gone? As in..."

_"Disappeared. Vanished. And he'd have told us beforehand that he'd test out his Dimensional Findicularizer, so he couldn't have used that."_

"So where is he?"

_"I don't know, and I don't think there's any way we will know unless someone tells us the ransom."_

"When did he disappear?"

_"About a week before you got back. Like I said, he just up and vanished. Nobody knows where he is, not even his parents."_

Naturally, Timmy was very concerned, as was Trixie when Timmy told her. What happened to AJ, his second-best friend since kindergarten? Was he dead? Kidnapped? If so, why? His family wasn't quite as rich as Trixie.

Then it hit him.

The technology AJ was capable of developing - in the wrong hands - could be deadly.

But who would kidnap him? All major strife worldwide - religious or otherwise - was foiled with the Disasteroid incident some nine years ago, when all nations were united by their admiration of Danny Phantom for saving the world. The Guys In White had no need for more advanced technology; Timmy had seen footage of them building that Intangibility Generator on _YouTube_ as a teen, and their technology looked to be on par with - or maybe more advanced than - AJ's best.

Could it be a Ghost, then? Or some unknown, _third_ party?

Who knew?

And in the two months since, AJ made no return, nor did anything came to light. Naturally, his disappearance had caused much confusion and concern to everyone who knew him. Especially his best friends.

But in that time, neither Timmy nor Trixie thought much of it. They were newlyweds; it was natural for them to want to spend more time with each other than they would worrying about a friend who had vanished.

Not that they were callous. They worried for AJ, granted, but they just pushed those thoughts to the back of their minds so that they would not drive their relationship into the dirt by thinking about other things too much.

Which was why Timmy decided that his dream about Doombringers was nothing to be concerned about. The Big Brother - whoever he was - was certain the Doombringers were gunning for someone named 'Turner'; that was all Timmy gathered from it. It could have been anyone, and in the days and weeks since, nothing more came to Timmy's mind. No more dreams. Nor did either Doombringer or his ghastly daughter attempt to attack him or Trixie at all. So that clinched it in Timmy's mind. He wasn't the one they were after.

And why should they be? Timmy never tried to cause trouble for anyone. He was always keen to keep his nose out of trouble. That way, trouble would not come dirtying up his doorstep.

Besides, why worry? What was the deal with worrying about Ghosts and terrorist organizations that were out to get him if they didn't exist at all? Timmy had a beautiful wife, a child on the way, and everything was coming up roses!

Trixie's pregnancy progressed quite well so far; her & Timmy looked on the Internet, in books, consulted with Timmy's mom and Sammy, about what sort of foods to eat while with child. So Timmy & Trixie stuck to foods that had lots of vitamins and minerals in them for Trixie, though she did occasionally have something sweet, like candy or chocolate. She stayed away from anything with alcohol in it (not too hard for her; she always hated those drinks).

Trixie still quite clearly remembered the visit to Dr. Renee Carter, their gynecologist, for her mid-pregnancy examination.

"Well, everything's going just fine, Mrs. Turner," Dr. Carter had said as she ran the ultrasound generator around Trixie's stomach.

Trixie had smiled at this, and she'd seen Timmy's face brighten up; he, too, must have gone in with grim belief that something might have gone wrong with the baby.

"I'm so happy," she'd said in barely more than a whisper. Then she spoke up, "But am I putting on too much weight or something? Should I start losing weight?"

"No," said Renee, smiling. "In fact, it's perfectly normal for a woman at your stage to be at this weight." She then spun the small screen of the sonogram so that it faced away from Timmy & Trixie. "Now, if you're planning on keeping these sonograph images, would you like to know the baby's gender?"

"No," Timmy & Trixie said at once.

"We want to wait until the baby's born to find out," Timmy had said.

Renee smiled as she pulled out the freshly-printed sonographs, "Very good. Then we'll put masking tape over the ge--..." She then did a double take as she looked at the images. "Wait."

"What is it?" asked Timmy & Trixie, both very concerned.

"Is the baby alright?" Trixie had asked.

"It's fine. Don't worry," said Renee, wearing a strange smile as she looked the sonograph images over. "I just have to..." She then ran the sonogram across Trixie's stomach again, but because of the angle of the screen, neither Trixie nor Timmy could see it. Her unusual smile returned. "Yep. It's alright. Or rather..." She turned to face them, and words had that changed her life - and Timmy's - forever emerged from Renee's mouth. "_They're_ alright."

"What?"

Trixie froze.

"They?" Trixie said. "You mean...?"

"I mean it," Renee had replied. "Twins. Of course, since you've already said that you don't want to know what the gender is before the birth, I'm at no liberty to tell either of you."

"But they're fine, right?" Timmy asked, a hand on Trixie's womb.

"Of course," said Renee. "See for yourself," handing them the sonograph pictures. Timmy looked at them for several moments, a look of blind delight on his face, before he'd handed the sonograph pictures to Trixie.

This was it, the next generation of Turners.

Trixie couldn't make out, just by looking at the babies in the picture, whether either one was a boy or a girl, because Renee had accordingly placed masking tape over a small area around the pelvises of the two tiny lives.

But that had scarcely mattered to Trixie.

All that had mattered was that she was the mother of twins now. And they were perfectly healthy.

Up until that moment, Trixie had never thought she feel quite so happy as she did when she'd gotten married, that the moment of realization that she would be Trixie Turner until her dying breath would be the shining jewel of her life that would eclipse all events before and since, but there she was, feeling just as excited - just as anxious - as when she was walking down the aisle.

Leaving Dr. Carter's office, Timmy & Trixie had initially driven their hover-car off in the direction of their home, with the intention of celebrating this joyous occasion.

Initially.

"Wait, Timmy," said Trixie, about two minutes away from Dr. Carter's. "We gotta go to the Wall-2-Wall Mart."

"Why?"

"The babies need more clothes."

"_More_ clothes?"

"Of course, Timmy," Trixie had said, folding her arms, "Before, we were buying clothes based on the assumption we were having one baby. Now, we gotta buy more."

"Oh! Right," said Timmy, merging into a lane that led to the Wall-2-Wall Mart. "Any colors you have in mind?"

"Yeah, actually. For some reason, I keep thinking pink and green."

"Pink and green?" Timmy'd stopped at the red light, turned in his seat, and faced Trixie.

"What? I just think that--..."

"Don't worry," said Timmy with a smile. "I was thinking those too. That's why I was all 'what?' about it."

"Oh," said Trixie, relieved. "Okay."

Then Trixie had felt a pregnancy hormone coming on.

"Timmy, tell me I'm pretty," she'd pleaded with no small amount of fear.

"You already know the answer to that, honey."

"No I don't! I'm just your fat cow of a wife!" Trixie's left eye twitched.

"Trixie, you're _beautiful_. You're better than pretty. And I don't think you're fat. You're practically glowing."

The hormone ended.

"Timmy, that's the sweetest thing," she had said. "Sorry I'm like this now. It's just--..."

"I understand," Timmy had replied. "Believe me. I had to watch Mom when she was pregnant with Tabby act even worse than_ you _sometimes. I mean, at least the--..."

"Timmy, could you buy me a Rocky Road ice cream, heavy on the ranch dressing?"

"...--cravings are over."

In retrospect, Trixie felt bad for the torment she put Timmy through with her mood swings and cravings and constantly feeling let down; all it amounted to was putting her through even more stress, which she didn't think she needed at all while she was pregnant. Thank God the cravings _were_ over.

Trixie hated pregnancy hormones. _Hated_ them.

But now Trixie sat at her in-laws' house, content as could be, bouncing a baby girl up and down on her leg, astonished that this was _her sister-in-law_.

Timmy was at the Wall-2-Wall Mart to collect his check - he'd been working part-time there as a cashier since he graduated from high school. Granted, the pay wasn't the best in the world - minimum wage never was - nor was it even really needed, since Trixie had blue-blooded roots, but he insisted.

Hey, if it made him feel like he was providing for her and the babies, it was alright with Trixie. Just so long as he didn't take it too seriously.

So here she was, spending time at her in-laws' house, waiting for Timmy to return with the check. Timmy's mom sat on the couch across from Trixie, and his dad was upstairs getting changed (though why exactly he needed to get changed escaped Trixie).

"So, Mom, what was it like?" Trixie asked before she could stop herself.

Something was nagging her.

"What was what like?" she asked, befuddled by her daughter-in-law's question.

"What was it like, being pregnant with Timmy?"

Timmy's mom said, "Well...it was one of the happiest times of my life; I'm sure you understand."

Trixie did; the idea that she was carrying within her the next generation of Turners was a bright prospect for her. Brighter still, because she had doubted it would happen when she was a teenager.

"But that's not what I'm worried about, Mom. I'm worried; does Timmy still love me? He says he does, but..."

"I went through the same period, Trixie. There was a little while when I was very pregnant with Timmy - not so much with Tabby, though - when I was wondering if Butch still loved me. I was very concerned about my weight, thinking I'd put on too much, even after the doctor told me I was just fine. Timmy still loves you, dear. Don't ever think he doesn't."

Trixie mulled this over in her mind - as Tabby made 'ba-ba-ba' noises on her lap - and felt a certain kinship to her mother-in-law now. Her mother-in-law had gone through pregnancy twice before and come out no worse for wear.

But that didn't account for herself.

"But what if I don't make it?"

To Trixie's surprise - and chagrin - Timmy's mom laughed.

"What's so funny?" Trixie snapped.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Trixie, it's just...the death rate of mothers - and their babies, for the record - are falling every year. I think that Dimmsdale is the best place for a mother-to-be to be right now, since we seem to have inexplicably gotten all of this advanced technology. I don't think I've heard of a single death in childbirth since Timmy proposed."

"Well, more like I picked the ring off the ground after it fell out of his pocket, but...but even if me and the twins _do_ survive childbirth, will me & Timmy be good parents?"

Timmy's mom smiled, picking up Tabby under the arms and placing her on her lap. "Trixie, I've seen how you and my son act together. I've seen how much love you two share, and I don't doubt that things will work out for you two. You & Timmy will be great parents."

"Mama!" squealed Tabby, putting her arms around her mother's waist.

"Yes, Mama's here, Tabby," said Timmy's mom, kissing her infant daughter on the head.

"Honey!" shouted Timmy's dad from upstairs. "Are you wearing my underwear? 'Cause I'm wearing yours!"

Trixie, her fears alleviated - but not entirely vanquished - decided to put on _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_ for a little bit.

* * *

November 23rd 2011...

Four months since their honeymoon. Since AJ had disappeared.

Two months since Timmy & Trixie had found out that they'd be having twins. And since they'd bought the pink and green clothes for them.

The mood swings ended as October arrived, to be replaced with one twin or the other using Trixie's bladder as a kicking bag, instigating a quick run to the toilet. Of course, Trixie was thankful that her mood swings were over.

It was also during that time that Timmy & Trixie had decided on names for the twins. Just in case, they decided on two sets of two names each - one male, one female - because even though they knew they were having twins, they were blind as to whether they were two boys, or two girls, or both. But in any situation, they ultimately chose two sets of two names that they both loved.

In late October, Timmy's parents, along with Chester & Sammy, Rudy & Tootie, Elmer, and Sanjay, all held a baby shower for Trixie. Mostly, it was toys for the twin infants - including a cradle wide enough for two infants - though there was clearly some confusion amongst the gifts; some were for boys and some for girls. Trixie laughed about the gift that Timmy's parents had 'gotten': it was Timmy's silly pink hat from when he was a kid.

"If they're two boys," Trixie had chuckled, "They'll fight over it."

Trixie now sat on the couch, alone. It was her 20th birthday today, but Timmy went to work today in spite of her protestations. Still, they fell on deaf ears, or rather, planning ears.

"Trust me, when I get home, it'll be the best birthday of your life, Trixie," he'd said, before he gave her a quick good-bye kiss.

Timmy had left for work at the Wall-2-Wall Mart two hours ago, and Trixie contented herself by spending some quality time with the twins.

The television was off. All books - illustrated, comic, or otherwise - were on the shelves. The clock said 2:48 PM.

It was just Trixie and her children.

Trixie's hands roved her round stomach, caressing the infants through her belly; she dearly longed to reach straight into her own womb and draw out the twins and embrace them.

The Turner twins. These precious gifts from above.

Here, now, Trixie had no doubts in herself or in anything.

_My children_, she thought, _it doesn't matter to me how you look, or what you do, or where you go in life. I'm your mother, and I will always love you._

And as she gave her unborn children all the love she had and they responded in kind by slowing their motions and undoubtedly returning her love...

Trixie's eyes shot open, and she cried out.

She was frozen with a sharp pain in her womb.

And it wasn't just a sharp jab.

It was long, drawn-out, twisting-the-knife sort of pain.

There was only one explanation for it:

Trixie's contractions had started.

Trixie sighed. It had to start while Timmy was out at work, didn't it?

And wouldn't you know it? Just as Trixie decided to pick up her cell phone and call Sammy to give her a ride to the hospital...

Her water broke.

Trixie let out a shuddering gasp as the amniotic fluids pooled on the couch cushion she was sitting on and dripped on to the floor.

She clearly didn't have the time to call someone and wait for them to pick her up. Even calling Timmy for a ride would have to wait.

Trixie's stomach flipped; she'd have to _walk_.

Trixie groaned. The Dimmsdale Hospital was easily a good hour away from their current place of residence. And walking there was exactly the last thing Trixie wanted to do when she felt like someone was trying to tear her uterus open with their bare hands. She tried to forget about the notion of walking...

But it would not leave her.

Sighing in resignation, Trixie slowly got up, pulled on her 'pregnancy' sandals, pulled off the cover of the cushion her water broke on, threw it down the stairs into the basement for washing when she got back, and walked out the door.

And called Timmy.

* * *

Timmy was busy packing some poor old lady's groceries at the Wall-2-Wall Mart, when...

He felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.

Looking around to make sure his supervisor wasn't looking, Timmy quickly took it out of his pocket and looked at the Caller ID.

_Trixie!_ He thought.

Without thinking, Timmy brought his phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

_"Timmy!"_

Trixie sounded out of breath.

"Trixie, where are you?"

_"I'm walking...huh...to the hospital. The twins...huh...they're coming."_

"What?!" Timmy almost jumped out of his skin. _The twins!_ he thought. _Of course. Today must be the day! Why didn't I think?_ "Stay where you are, Trixie. I'm driving out there and picking you up."

_"No, you don't, Timmy! These contractions...huh...are really pai..._AAAAGGGGHHHHH!!_...and walking...huh...helps me take...huh...my mind off of it!"_

"...Okay, I'll try to get to the hospital as soon as possible, then."

_"Fine! Bye!"_

The call ended.

"Ahem."

Timmy recognized that 'ahem' anywhere. Turning around, Timmy saw his supervisor, Hector Fleming.

"Uhh, Mr. Fleming," Timmy said nervously.

"What were you just doing, Mr. Turner?" Fleming asked in his severe tone.

"My wife just called. It was urgent."

"Oh?" Fleming's eyebrows raised. "How urgent?"

"She's gonna have a baby, sir."

"Really?" said Fleming, eyebrows now all but invisible under his hair - which was saying something, as his bangs scarcely covered his forehead. "Tell me, Mr. Turner: do you think that your silly little phone calls are more important than working here?"

"In this case, yes," said Timmy, very quickly reminded of how much he disliked Fleming. Fleming was strict, oppressive, and incorrigibly right-wing. Indeed, after hours Timmy would often hear many fellow employees parting by way of the phrase, _Heil Hector!_ Clearly Fleming was very unpopular.

"Very well, then, Turner," said Fleming. "If that's how you will act, you are hereby suspended from your duties at the Wall-2-Wall Mart..."

"Fine by me!" said Timmy, turning to leave.

"..._after_ you've finished your work hours today," finished Fleming.

_I hate him_, Timmy thought as he resignedly returned to his station.

* * *

"Finally!" Timmy shouted to the skies as he was dismissed from duty that day at 10:00 that night - he was officially dismissed at 9:30, but he had taken the time to pick out a birthday cake for Trixie. He had made sure it was in pink and green - his & Trixie's two favorite colors - and had a picture of him & Trixie kissing on their wedding day printed onto it.

Timmy made his way to his car, placing the cake precariously on the hood, and pulled out his cell phone to dial Sammy's number.

_Ring..._

_Ri--_

_"Hello?"_

"Sammy, it's Timmy."

_"Timmy? Where the heck are you?"_

"Mr. Fleming finally decided to dismiss me from work. How's Trixie?"

"_She's getting pretty far apart. The doctor says she should be ready to push about now."_

"Right now?! I'm on my way! Bye!" Without another word, he threw open the door to his car, put the cake in the passenger's seat, strapped it in - and himself as well - turned on the ignition, and took off down the road...

...Where a warning light on the dashboard said: 'WARNING: ACCELERATION IS HIGH WHILE BATTERY IS LOW. MUST RECHARGE' before it descended to an empty parking/recharging space not even fifty feet from the Wall-2-Wall Mart.

"Oh, come on!" he cried out. The Hospital was on the other end of the city; it would take him hours to get there by walking, and he couldn't sit here and wait for the car's batteries to recharge; that would take almost as long, and then by the time he got to the Hospital...

_Great_, he thought. _Trixie's giving birth to the twins, and my car decides to take a nap when I'm on the other side of town! Will something go _right_ today for a change?_

"Get in!" shouted someone from a rather nice-looking car, hovering right next to him; the door swung open. Timmy was clearly the one being addressed; he was the only one around. Reluctantly, he climbed in.

"Dimmsdale Hospital, and step on--..."

"I _know_, Turner!" said the driver, turning to face Timmy. "That's where I'm headed, too!"

Timmy gaped. "M-m-Mrs. Tang?"

Wherever Mrs. Tang had been, it hadn't quite agreed with her. She clearly hadn't packed her makeup when she'd left; her lipstick was smudged and her eyeliner and eyeshadow was absent, as though she had washed her face at some point. Without makeup to enhance her looks, Timmy could see the hardness to his mother-in-law's face that was largely absent in her daughter. Also, he could clearly see some gray in her hair now that she didn't have the black hair dye necessary to hide it.

"No time for questions, Timothy," she snapped as she shut the door with a push of a button. "We've got to get to the Dimmsdale Hospital immediately!"

"Wow," Timmy said.

"What?" Beatrix said as she drove off down the street.

"I'm just amazed. I mean, it sounds like you actually _care_ about...well, _me_."

"Save it, Turner. We're not there yet."

_Man_, Timmy thought. _This car ride couldn't last longer._

* * *

"We're there!" Timmy bolted out the door as soon as Beatrix opened it with the flick of a switch, through the automatically opening doors of the hospital, up to the nurse at the desk. Beatrix ran after him, not even shutting her car off.

"Name, please?" she said.

But just as Timmy was opening his mouth...

"TIMMY TURNER!" came the shriek from upstairs.

Practically everyone in the lobby jumped a good foot into the air.

Chuckling nervously, Timmy said, "That's my wife."

The nurse smiled slightly, "So I've heard. She's in room B-226."

"Thanks," said Timmy, bolting for the stairs. _Weird_, he thought. _That's where Sammy had Jessie._

"Wait up, Turner!" shouted Mrs. Tang, pursuing, but not before issuing a hurried excuse to the nurse at the desk.

Walking through the door to Floor B, two floors up, and made his way down to B-226; it was easy to tell which one it was; the benches in front of B-226 was crowded with many of Timmy's closest friends and family.

His parents, with Tabby on her mother's lap. Trixie's dad. Chester, Sammy, and Jessie. Rudy & Tootie (who looked very far along now). Elmer. Sanjay.

Not to mention that it was the room from which Trixie's screams of "TIMMY TURNER!" were the loudest.

"Whoa, Tim! Where've you been?" asked Chester, who was balancing his now-nearly-two-year-old daughter on his lap - "Da-da-da-da-da," she kept saying.

"Mr. Fleming wouldn't let me off early," Timmy explained.

"Ooh, harsh," said Chester; Timmy's predicaments with Fleming were not a secret to Timmy's family or friends.

"Bea?" said Trixie's dad as he stood up, struck by the appearance of his wife.

"Aunt Bea?" said Sammy, snapping around and looking at her mother's older sister.

"Yes, Nigel, I'm here," said Mrs. Tang, "But only to see whether any sort of damage has been made to the bloodline by this man I had to drive here."

"My car ran outta juice," Timmy explained. "It's still outside the Wall-2-Wall Mart."

"TIMMY TURNER!"

No one jumped - _they must be used to it by now_, thought Timmy, who _did_ jump - but both Jessie and Tabby both started to wail a little.

"Mama..." said Jessie.

"Don't worry, sweetie," said Sammy, taking hold of her daughter and hugging her tightly, covering the infant's ears. "Mommy's here. Mommy won't let Aunt Trixie make you cry."

"You might wanna go in there, Timmy," said Timmy's mom concernedly, covering Tabby's ears as well. "She's been at that for over an hour now."

"I'm going in, too," said Beatrix. "She missed me, no doubt."

So Timmy and his mother-in-law entered delivery room B-226.

The first thing Timmy saw upon entering the room was Trixie, lying on a hospital bed. She'd seen better days; her hair was massively disheveled, and her face was shiny with sweat and pink from exertion. A doctor worked under a screen that shrouded her from the waist down; assisting with her labor no doubt.

Wasting no time - he didn't want to hear her screaming again - he crossed the room and took her hand.

Trixie snapped her head to face Timmy, and for a brief instant she looked at him with unbridled rage, then - apparently, out of realization - her features softened a little.

Then she settled for a look of grim anger.

"This is all your fault, Turner!" she snarled at him.

"I know, but you have to focus, Trixie. Remember the exercises we took. Breathe. Conserve your energy--..."

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING RIGHT NOW?!!" Trixie's shriek rattled the windows in their frames.

Sighing, Timmy looked up at the doctor; his name tag said 'Derek Laurence'. "How much longer, Doc?"

"I can almost see the head, Mr. and Mrs. Turner," said Dr. Laurence, "And these two don't look like they want to stay in there much longer. Now, push whenever you feel a contraction, Mrs. Turner."

"What makes you think I can do that?!" Trixie shouted at Laurence. The doctor made no reply.

"Because we believe in you, Trixie," said Timmy, wincing a little; he could almost hear his fingers snapping under the pressure of her hand.

"Do you think that your..." She screamed as a contraction passed and she pushed in spite of the pain she must have been feeling. "...that your belief means a goddam thing to me right now?! If you so much as _touch_ me again, Turner, you'll regret the day you were born!"

"Watch your mouth, Trixie!" said Beatrix, speaking for the first time since she came in. "There will be young ears to hear language that soon."

Trixie snapped around to look again, but this time, the look of disbelief that now crossed her face didn't leave it.

Her lips slowly parted.

"...Mom...?"

"Yes, Mom's here, Trixie," said Beatrix, walking to her daughter and resting a hand on her head. Timmy was surprised; she was actually _smiling_. "I'm here for you, sweetie. You have to do this."

"But...I can't," said Trixie, and Timmy saw that amidst her sweat-shined face...were tears. "This is too hard."

"Things are always hard, Trixie," said Beatrix, laying an uncharacteristic kiss on her daughter's cheek. "But don't let it get to you. Please, do this...for my grandchildren."

Timmy was surprised; Trixie's mother really _did_ love her daughter. And Trixie seemed to be influenced by it, because on the next few contractions, she did it with a low, strained groan and with minimal digs thrown Timmy's way - though she did finish each with a short scream. One minor drawback of this was that the relative silence seemed to pass much slower than when she was hurling vitriol at Timmy. With each passing contraction - each push from Trixie - Timmy willed every cell in his brain for it to pass

Then, finally, at 10:38...

Trixie seemed to relax

"It's a girl," said Dr. Laurence, holding the slightly bloody, slightly gray baby girl. Though she wasn't crying, she seemed to be moving a little, indicating that she was still alive.

Laurence cut the umbilical cord, quickly but gently cleaned the small girl with a cloth, and held the baby girl out to Trixie, who gave the baby a small kiss on the head, before Laurence then put the baby in an NICU - placing the small girl on an incubator to raise her body temperature, and putting a small breather on the infant's mouth to aid her breathing - and then returned to assisting Trixie.

_Come on, Trixie_, Timmy chanted in his head; he'd managed to extricate his sore hand from Trixie's and took to urging his wife on mentally. _Keep it up. I know you can. You're stronger than you make yourself out to be. You can do it. I know you can. I believe in you._

And then, at 10:41 - three minutes later - Trixie slumped back against the pillow on the back of her bed; Timmy let out the breath he didn't know he was holding; Beatrix smiled and told Trixie how proud she was of her; and Dr. Laurence held a second damp infant in his hands, this one letting out a feeble wail.

"It's a boy," he said, clipping the umbilical cord and cleaning the boy, then allowing Trixie a kiss to her son.

"A boy?" Trixie asked as Laurence put him in the NICU along with his twin sister.

_A boy? _And_ a girl?_ Timmy thought. He had _fraternal twins_ for children? That was an idea, while it crossed his mind in the instant he discovered that he was the father of twins, that seemed somewhat unlikely at the time.

But now, looking into the NICU's that were set up in B-226, there could be no denying it.

"They were born about a month early," said Laurence, "But they are surprisingly healthy for premature births. A couple of hours in the NICU and they should be fine. Would the proud parents like to look at them?"

"Not yet," said Trixie. "I think I need to rest a little." And she sounded it, too; no sooner did she say that than she closed her eyes, laid back, and slipped into slumber.

"I'm gonna stay with her," said Timmy; now that his children were born - and he could rightfully call himself a father - he didn't want to be anywhere else right now but near to them.

Also, in spite of the excitement of the day, he felt surprisingly tired now. Perhaps the adrenaline was leaving him.

Seating himself in the chair nearest the NICU's holding his children, Timmy Turner drifted off into sleep, his heart and soul swelling with love.

Beatrix, sensing that she was intruding on her daughter and her husband, and their children - her _grandchildren_ - exited Room B-226.

_**---**_

This is Beatrix Elizabeth Tang I:

The daughter of Tybalt Tang & Patricia Tang. The mother of Beatrix Elizabeth Tang II, and the wife of Nigel Tang.

The grandmother of the Turner Twins.

From the day she was born, her parents had instructed her that remaining 'pure' was the heart of salvation. For the longest time, she had accepted her father's definition of 'purity' as in maintaining her heretofore untainted Chinese bloodline into the next generation. And the next. And the next.

So it was to her great joy when her father told her that he had invited over the other Tang family in Dimmsdale - Walter & Natalie Tang, and their son Nigel - and told her that, to avoid confusion and to pool the two wealthy families' fortunes together, she & Nigel were to be wed within the week.

Granted, she was only 22 and Nigel was in his late 30's, but she didn't really care. All that mattered was that she was going to continue the purity of the Tang bloodline into the next generation.

Of course, her younger sister, Elizabeth Beatrix Tang, quite disagreed with this interpretation of 'purity'. And within a month of becoming Nigel's wife - well - the result was the event that Tybalt had labeled as a 'one-night stand'. And the disownership of Lizzie Tang. As was to be expected of his authoritarianism, Beatrix's father Tybalt was the one who did the disowning of Lizzie, and his own wife Patty when she protested the extremity of his actions.

Though she had often maintained an aura of stoicism and apathy towards her sister, in her heart of hearts Beatrix felt mortified at her father's response to following your heart's desire.

And realized that she had been, in essence, assuming that two plus two equaled six.

She had wrongly believed that, just because all the prior generations of her family assumed that 'purity' meant a pristine bloodline - rather than, as she realized then, an integrity of desire and a faithfulness to one's desires - that that was the right path to follow.

But she was already too far down that road to backtrack and start over; she vowed to herself to not fall into the same trap that her father had before her.

Afterwards, she hid her own true self behind a mask, intent on never allowing herself to be severed from her family so viciously. Henceforth, she put up an appearance - hid behind a façade even in front of her other popular friends in order to prevent herself from - as she saw it - falling into the same pit as her sister.

However, by the time of the birth of her daughter Trixie - whom Nigel had named after "her beautiful mother" - it was too late for Beatrix Tang.

She learned the hard way the truth behind the saying: 'You can hide behind a mask so long, you forget who you were beneath it.'

Beatrix had forgotten her vow to allow the next generation to run free and lead its own life; instead falling into the mentality of all other Tangs before her. And she had forgotten the truth that Lizzie had discovered: that true love conquers all.

And the real Beatrix Tang - behind her mask - hated herself for her foolishness.

Fortunately for the 'hard' Beatrix, Trixie's cousin Theobald - the son of Nigel's older brother, Franklin and his wife, Kathleen - shared many of her beliefs by some bizarre coincidence that she initially attributed to someone up there liking her.

So she set up an engagement for Trixie and Theobald, intent on maintaining the purity into the next generation, even if it meant dominating her daughter's love life.

Then Veronica Star - the daughter of one of the popular kids of her time, Vernon Star, the son of a very famous actress named Valerie Star - dropped the bomb: Trixie was actually in love with a _Timmy Turner_!

Turner! Beatrix had heard that name before. Her father warned her to stay away from Eugene & Frannie Turner and their errant son Elmer Earl 'Butch' Turner IV; they, as he told her, were descended from the infamous Caribbean pirate William Turner, and his father Bootstrap Bill, and were the worst of the worst; not only were they of non-Chinese ancestry, but they were also pirate-spawn!

But simultaneously, that revelation revealed the first crack in the mask. And the real Beatrix Tang, for the first time in her own memory, surfaced to hear Nigel's question:

"...what's more important: Trixie's popularity, or Trixie's happiness?"

And so the real Beatrix, after an intense internal battle between her love for her daughter and her desire for purity in the bloodline, gave the answer that Trixie's happiness _had_ to come first.

Of course, the 'hard' Beatrix quickly submerged the real Beatrix, and she - albeit under false pretenses - followed the same policies as her forefathers.

Until Trixie revealed that she'd followed in the footsteps of her Aunt Lizzie and become pregnant with an unpopular man (in this case, the pirate-spawn Timmy Turner).

The mental battle almost driving her mad this time, Beatrix packed her things and left, telling her husband, her daughter, and Turner to not come to look for her; she wanted to sort out her mental battle without anyone cutting in and clouding her judgment.

So she traveled from motel to motel, laying low wherever possible, neglecting even the basics of makeup; her gray roots were beginning to show, betraying the stress she'd been putting herself through.

Finally, on July 15th, 2011, Beatrix decided to make good on her invitation to her daughter's wedding; although she had not the nerve to face her daughter - not after her "you're heading for a fall" remark that she felt was going too far just moments after saying it - she decided that she would film it; perhaps watching it would help her with her internal war.

It did.

The glowing face of her daughter as she walked down the aisle ground into the mask with one sledgehammer blow.

The warmth and love and truth behind the words _I do_ as they escaped Trixie's lips rent the mask in half.

And Trixie's first kiss as Mrs. Timothy Turner broke it to dust, to be carted off in the wind.

Not wanting anyone to see the tears of joy in her eyes, Beatrix quickly left.

Beatrix isn't sure if it was a good idea or not to keep out of contact with her family for so long afterwards was a good idea; she kept wanting so badly to walk up to them and apologize profusely for what she'd put them through. But no. They wouldn't understand. They would ostracize her. And she would be alone.

Just like when Lizzie was disowned.

But then, pretty close to half past nine on one November 23rd, 2011 (Trixie's 20th birthday), Beatrix - who had long held much contempt for the paparazzi - finally felt that the camera-toters and borderline-stalkers finally did some good, when they'd spotted Trixie Turner herself hobbling down the road to the Dimmsdale Hospital.

It was time.

Beatrix was shocked; but without a thought more - other than that the paparazzi sure took their time sending this to the newsroom - she rushed outside, climbed into the car she's rented during this time, and took off.

She spotted Timmy outside a Wall-2-Wall Mart on the way, his car recharging outside. She picked him up, brought him to the Hospital, and participated in the birth of her grandchildren.

She wonders what names Timmy & Trixie chose for them.

_**---**_

Beatrix faced everyone that had come to see Timmy & Trixie's children.

"...

"I suppose I owe everyone an explanation, huh?" she said, smiling in a way both sly and nervous.

_**---**_

Trixie woke up, feeling lighter than she'd felt in months. She still felt somewhat sore from the birth, but at least she didn't feel tired anymore.

_Birth..._

Trixie sat up bolt upright. The clock read 12:51.

"Oh, you're awake," said Laurence, looking over the now-empty NICU's. A black panic seized Trixie; what had happened to the twins?

"Don't worry," said Laurence with a smirk, indicating a double-width cradle that had been wheeled in her sleep. "They're fine now. We transferred them into that just a minute ago. I was just about to wake you up, actually."

Relief...sweet, sweet relief filled Trixie...

"Mrgh..." said Timmy from his slumber in the chair. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up slowly. "How are they?"

"They've made a surprisingly fast recovery, Mr. Turner," said Laurence. "Would you two like to see them, and name them?"

That got Trixie's attention; they had two sets of two names - one boy, one girl - in the event that they had two boys or two girls. Now, they had a boy and a girl. What did they do now?

"Yeah, we'll do that," said Timmy.

Laurence smiled and wheeled the cradle toward them; Trixie looked into the cradle at her twin children; she had barely seen them because of how blurry things looked because of her tears from the pain.

She gasped.

She'd seen baby pictures of Timmy, and the boy - apart from his jet-black hair and his nose which apparently came from her genes - looked like a dead ringer for him.

The girl had inherited a more moderate mix of her genes and Timmy's; though she did inherit Timmy's hair, nose, and - she noticed - his lips as well, the girl's facial structure was more like a Tang than a Turner.

Gingerly picking up the boy, Trixie cradled him in her arms as Timmy did the same with their daughter.

"What do we name them?" Trixie asked Timmy.

"I know what you mean; we already have two first names and two middle names for each," Timmy replied. "We can take our absolute favorite first and middle names for these gifts," Timmy turned his gaze on his daughter, and gasped. "Trixie!" he whispered excitedly.

"I know," Trixie said, feeling almost ecstatic; "He's waking up, too."

The baby boy slowly rubbed his eyes with his pudgy hands, and slowly - almost pensively - opened them.

Trixie gasped; it was like looking into Timmy's eyes.

"She has...my eyes," said Timmy, in awe, not taking his eyes off of his daughter's.

"Thomas Michael."

"What?" Timmy looked at Trixie.

"His name. It's Thomas Michael Turner. But for short..." She grinned. "We can call him Tommy."

Timmy gaped for a moment, then smiled. "I like it. But that's sorta inspired by the fact that you 'almost' remembered my name when we were ten, right?"

"Mm-hmm," Trixie nodded. "What name are you thinking of for her?"

He looked back at their daughter with a loving smile. "I think she looks like a Tamara Sophia Turner. Tammy for short."

"I love it," Trixie said. It was a beautiful name for their beautiful daughter.

"Almost as much as me?" Timmy asked.

Trixie smirked. "Sure, why not?"

Timmy & Trixie chuckled, but only for a second.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Turner," said Laurence, "But we're going to have to see the twins now. We have to take down their names, their weight, their length, the whole nine yards." And he took Tammy first, put her in the cradle, then the boy - Trixie resisted a little; she was already in love with her children, and was torn at being parted even a few hours from them - and then rode the cradle away out of B-226.

"I suppose we're gonna be staying overnight, huh?" Trixie asked; she wanted to be as close as possible to the twins.

Evidently, so did Timmy, because he said smilingly, "Of course, love. So will everyone else, if the nurses allow them." Then his eyes widened and he smiled more broadly, "Oh, by the way, Trixie..."

Then he kissed her on the lips, but before he did, he uttered the three words that completed her day:

"Happy birthday, Trixie."

* * *

(**Note:** Whew! Finally! That was a hassle getting through that part at the end. Especially the 'This is Beatrix Tang' part. So, anyone realize the significance of this date?

Anyone?

...Anyone?

...Okay. Today, two days ago, I posted the very first chapter of _Happily Ever After_ here on (technically, the Prologue). Has it really been two years already? Two years since this whole thing got started because I noted the distinct lack of Timmy/Trixie fanfictions that were either good or of a decent length. I should say, it's really come far since then, and I don't think I would have made it this far without the support of any of you.

Thanks.

But don't worry. This thing still has another chapter and an Epilogue coming. So this isn't quite over. But don't think even those will answer all of your questions on the motives of characters in this chapter and any preceding chapters. After all, _Happily Ever After_ is really just a liaison between the _Fairly OddParents_/_Danny Phantom_ and my upcoming fanfiction, _The Fairly OddParents Next_.

Another milestone of this chapter is that _Happily Ever After_ is now joining the proud and the few FOP fanfictions that have exceeded 100,000 words in length! And I have everyone of you faithful readers to thank.

As for the events of this chapter, AJ's disappearance has some relevance. As is the escape of Doombringer and his 'half-breed daughter'. That, though, will be elaborated on in another upcoming fic of mine, _No Sunshine for a Doombringer_. It is a biographical fic about Mrs. Sunshine/Ms. Doombringer, the villain in the episode _'No Substitute for Crazy!'_. She will have great importance in FOPN, and her backstory will need fleshing out to detail why she is the way she is.

Once again, your support brings chapters more quickly.

May the Force be with you!)


	18. Chapter 17

(**Disclaimer:** You got the idea. I don't own anyone or anything I didn't make up.)

(Also, I would like to dedicate this chapter to DeviantArt's Patrick T. C. "**Captain-Galant**" Pope, his wife Annette "**qwerty-kitties**", and their newborn daughter Kayleigh Anne. Congratulations, you two!)

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

* * *

**CHAPTER 17: New Arrivals**

Trixie Turner woke up to the sun stabbing into her eyes. Shutting them again almost instantly from the brightness, she brought her hand up to block the rays. Once she'd adjusted to the light, she thought she saw two blotches floating out the window…or was it three? But before she could look closer, they vanished, leaving pink smoke behind.

_I must be drowsier than I thought; I'm seeing things_, she thought. She rubbed her eyes blearily with her hand.

And she looked at her husband sleeping in the chair next to her hospital bed, his hand in her hand. He looked so soft, so peaceful, and so _beautiful_ in his sleep, and Trixie could not keep her eyes off of him. On an impulse, she leaned down to him and pecked him on the lips. He stirred.

"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty," Trixie said.

"Princess Charming," he said smiling, slipping his hand out of hers.

"About time you two woke up," said a voice from the doorway. Trixie & Timmy looked over; it was Dr. Derek Laurence.

"I had to open the curtains to wake you two up," he said with a slight smile.

"What time is it?" Timmy asked.

"It's 10:30 in the morning," said Laurence, "So you just missed breakfast – which, between you and me, is probably the best."

"Yeah," said Timmy. "I know firsthand that hospital food is just plastic."

Laurence laughed along with the Turners.

"I know what you mean," said Laurence, "Though there are two people waiting just outside, waiting for breakfast. I'll bring them in."

Joy swelled in Trixie's heart as Laurence stepped out into the hall, and she looked at Timmy and when she saw the joy in his face as well, her world was bathed in sunshine.

"Here they are," said Laurence, pushing in the double cradle carrying the Turner twins, now nearly half a day old. Trixie could hear their plaintive cries already, and it hurt her.

"Which one would you like to feed first, Mrs. Turner?" asked the doctor.

It was a tough choice for the new mother; both of her children were dearer to her than even she could comprehend at this stage, and she didn't want, even at this young an age, to make either think there was a preference.

_And I don't think I'm ready for tandem breastfeeding, either_, she thought. _Might be a bit of a shock to the system._

"The boy, please," she finally said. With a smile, Laurence reached down and picked Tommy up.

_**---**_

While Trixie was feeding the younger of the twins, Timmy decided to step out of the room and see who was waiting outside: Rudy & Tootie Reed (due within a month and a half), his parents and his younger sister Tabby – who already an aunt at her young age – his in-laws Nigel & Beatrix (who looked rather out of place), Elmer, Sanjay, and Chester & Sammy and their baby daughter Jessie.

Timmy never thought of himself as astute – he didn't even know what the word meant – but he noticed a tension in the air. No doubt brought on by the presence of Beatrix Tang I, who had had a negative touch on so many of their lives.

Timmy noted Sammy's reaction in particular. She was giving her aunt a wary look; granted, Beatrix _had_ gone into B-226 and given Trixie the fortitude to get the Turner twins out of the womb, but Sammy hadn't forgotten how Beatrix stood by as Grampa Tybalt Tang disowned Lizzie Tang, his own daughter. And Sammy's mother.

"So, how are they?" Who asked that? As soon as he was addressed, Timmy found himself swept up in a wave of joy that was finally crashing over him. He was halfway to the moon already in his happiness. He was a _father_.

"Fine," said Timmy vaguely.

"They must be. You're smiling, Turner."

That snapped him out of it.

It was his mother-in-law.

Trixie's mother.

Beatrix Tang I.

He looked at her.

She didn't look much different from the previous night, but the hardness in her features seemed to be lessened now.

She was smiling herself now.

"Looks like you lived up to your promise, Timothy," she said. "She's very happy to have borne your children."

Sammy's cautious demeanor began to wane.

"Thank you, Mrs. Tang," Timmy said blankly; he didn't know quite how to act now that Trixie's mom seemed to actually _approve_ of him.

Beatrix seemed to smile. It seemed slightly forced, as though she hadn't for years. Which she probably hadn't.

"Call me 'Mom'."

Everyone in the room who knew Beatrix Tang in the past – basically, everyone – spun and faced her in shock.

_Mom?_ Timmy thought.

"Excuse me, but why this sudden change…?" asked Timmy's mom, who faltered, probably unsure as to whether she should address Beatrix as 'Beatrix' or 'Mrs. Tang'.

Beatrix didn't seem to notice, however.

"Have you ever heard the phrase, 'hiding behind a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it'?"

"No," Timmy said; what on Earth did _that_ mean?

"Then you get an F! Tomorrow!" cried a croaky voice from the other end of the room. Shocked, everyone turned; it was Mr. Crocker, Timmy's old elementary school teacher. His hair was white now, his teeth more yellow and even more crooked. And his ears were still on his neck.

"What are _you_ doing here, Mr. Crocker?" asked Chester, holding Jessie under the arms as he balanced her on his leg.

"Uhh…" said Crocker, his eye twitching behind his glasses.

"FAIRIES!!" he cried with a spasm™ that threw him out an open window, where he landed with a crash. And a splash.

"Who built _this_ well?!" came his irritated shout from said well.

Timmy, Chester & Sammy, Elmer, and Sanjay couldn't help but laugh. Mr. Crocker was always crazy, from what they'd seen. I mean, who could possibly think that Fairies were real, unless you were either a kid or crazy? Timmy himself had believed in Fairies as a kid, but he'd let that go years ago.

_How could Fairies even exist?_ Timmy thought. _I mean, there'd be some clues, wouldn't there? Some strange happenings? Kids disappearing? Ghosts existing makes sense, 'cause where else would dead people go when they die if they're in limbo? But _Fairies_? Grow up, Crockpot!_

"Timmy!" scolded his mom, waving a finger at Timmy as her husband began filming Tabby with a video camera. "You should know better than to laugh at some old man who jumps out a second-story window. He could have bruised himself! You need to set a better example now that you're a father."

"Sorry, Mom, but the exact same thing had happened when I was ten," Timmy explained. "He broke his failing hand and we had that substitute, Mrs. Sunshine, for a couple days. She turned out to be a Fairy hunter, too, and they fired her."

Chester nodded, "Then we had that monster-hunting substitute and--…"

"Hold on a second!" Tootie cut in, a soft hand on her full belly. "Are we here to talk about old teachers, or are we here to see Timmy's children?"

The air seemed to switch from being reminiscent to being anxious, even excited.

"Who wants go first?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Me, me, me!" cried out Timmy's dad, waving his arm in the air frantically.

Timmy smiled. "Alright. Dad, Mom, you get to see first."

"Why don't the grandparents go first?" suggested Beatrix.

A moment's pause, and the tension was renewed.

"Alright," said Timmy, before leading his parents in with Tabby – out of the corner of his eye, he saw Beatrix mean to follow, but Nigel grabbed her hand.

That was perhaps good. Timmy knew his wife better than anyone, but didn't know how she'd react to seeing her mother now that the effects of childbirth were worn out on Trixie.

Dr. Laurence stood by Trixie's bed; she was feeding Tammy now. Tommy lay in his crib, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Oh!" cried out Timmy's mom, spotting Tommy in the crib. Her hand flew to her mouth, tears pricking her eyes.

"Is that…my grandson?" she asked tearfully.

Timmy nodded.

Timmy's mom cried out, kneeling down to look at her son's son.

"He looks just like you, Timmy," she said, tears darkening Tommy's blanket.

"Well, not just like me," he said modestly, and it was true; Tommy _did_ have his mother's hair and nose.

But his words fell on deaf ears; Timmy's mom picked up Tommy and continued to shed tears of joy over her infant grandson, while Timmy's dad led Tabby up to the cradle to see Tommy.

As he stared at his grandson, Timmy's dad's upper lip wobbled, and a sole tear stained his cheek. "My little boy's all grown up now…"

Tabby babbled something to her father that Timmy couldn't make out; Butch seemed to understand perfectly though, because he smiled obliviously and answered, "The stork!"

Timmy sighed. More little white lies that would make Tabby not trust her parents for a day when she found out about it.

"Done, Tammy?" asked Trixie, pulling Tammy away and covering herself again. Timmy took his daughter, wrapped in her blanket, and looked down at her. She was already asleep.

"And is that my granddaughter, even though it's very obvious that she's the only newborn girl in the room?" asked Timmy's dad, his eyes shining at the sight.

_Awkward_, Timmy thought.

"Uhh…"

"Yeah, Dad," said Trixie, smiling at her daughter and father-in-law.

"Oh boy!" said Timmy's dad, putting Tabby in a chair and cradling Tammy in his arms.

"Grandchildren…" murmured Timmy's mom, before waxing Sweeney Todd™ lyrics, "_Nothing's going to harm you, Not while I'm around…_"

* * *

One week later, Tommy & Tammy Turner were permitted to leave Dimmsdale Hospital. Since they were born premature, the doctors were hesitant to let them out until they were certain the twins were stable.

Trixie's meeting with her mother just minutes after Timmy's parents were introduced to their newborn grandchildren was…less than joyful.

Not sad.

"Trixie?" Beatrix had asked, unable to take her eyes from her granddaughter Tamara, whom she held in her arms.

"I still didn't forgive you for everything that you did to me, Mom," Trixie responded, holding Tommy. Not coldly, but it still held an icy edge.

(Timmy stood in the doorway, not wanting to interfere or intervene. Nigel had stood beside his son-in-law, deciding to wait for this problem to resolve itself before he himself entered.)

"I didn't expect you to," Beatrix said. "I'll understand if you don't want to see me again. I said some terrible things. But you have to understand, I had no choice."

"No choice?" Trixie echoed, raising eyebrows.

"If I'd stood up for my sister, Daddy would've disowned _me_, too!" Beatrix had exclaimed, her voice going high as tears stung in her eyes.

"So you didn't want to not see Grampa Tybalt again, who cares?" Trixie remarked. "Hiding behind that mask of yours did more harm than good. I was _depressed _acting the way you wanted me to, like everyone else was beneath me, not worthy of my attention! I actually thought about _killing_ myself just before me & Timmy started going steady!"

"Trixie!" cried Beatrix highly, tears flowing freely down her face, and in that moment, Timmy saw the spitting image of Trixie in Beatrix; they looked identical when Beatrix wasn't trying to act like she was royalty.

"I know what I did was wrong, but I lost myself in Daddy's pure blood mania. I didn't know what harm I would do. I _love_ you!"

Timmy recalled walking up at that point and taking Tammy, because Beatrix looked like she was getting too shaky to hold on to the infant Turner girl. Indeed, Beatrix collapsed to her knees, her face cupped in her hands.

She cried like that for almost ten minutes straight, and Timmy saw Trixie's sharp look soften; and it was not long after that that Trixie reached out to her mother, placing a hand on her shoulder and caressing it – holding Tommy in her other arm, keeping his head supported – it took Beatrix some minutes even after this to settle down.

"I never…thought…it'd be…it'd be this bad," sniffled Beatrix.

"I know you think you've been punishing yourself enough, Mom," Trixie said.

"And I can hear a 'but' coming," Beatrix mumbled loud enough even for Timmy to hear.

"'But'? I didn't hear a fart," Trixie remarked snidely, winking at Timmy.

Timmy chuckled silently.

Beatrix let out a short snicker, before sniffing again.

"But…" Trixie continued. "I'm gonna need some time to think about forgiving you. You've done too much to just forget it in a day. I'm sorry, Mom. I love you, but you've got time to do still."

Beatrix had taken her daughter's hand and smiled at her daughter; a real smile, for the first time. "Thank you, Trixie."

Trixie had smiled back.

After that, Rudy & Tootie came in, and Timmy – on a whim – decided to make Tootie their godmother. Chester was made to be the godfather when he, Sammy, and Jessie came to see their…was it second cousins or first cousins once removed? (Timmy never understood that whole 'cousin' thing.)

Beatrix was gracious enough to drop Timmy off at his car later that day so that he could reclaim it.

He found a surprise as he opened the door.

The cake he'd bought had melted, dripping liquid ice cream all over the seat.

"Darn it!" Timmy had exclaimed. Not that Trixie's money couldn't have reupholstered the entire interior and then some; it was the principle of the situation.

_That_ sucked.

So he drove it home and cleaned it out as best as possible.

And drove it back every day to visit Trixie in the hospital, and back home every night.

_**---**_

Timmy drove the car from Dimmsdale Hospital on November 30, Trixie sitting beside him in the passenger seat, and Tommy and Tammy – both asleep – strapped into baby carriers in the back seats. It had taken an hour or so to work through everything – collecting their birth certificates, signing paperwork, stuff like that – and they'd made a rather startling discovery in the twins' crib just as they were taking them out, a surprise that lay in the back seat between the twins:

A Garfield™ doll in tye-dye colors of neon-green and hot-pink, wearing a bonnet and bib – which was emblazoned with the phrase: 'It's a BOTH!' The pink 'It's a' was written in loopy cursive, while the 'BOTH!' was neon-green and looked like more of an untidy scrawl. It reminded Timmy of the one he'd had when _he_ was born: baby-blue, with 'It's a Boy!' on its bib.

The drive home was rather uneventful, until they got onto their block.

Timmy slammed the brakes.

"What the--…" he & Trixie muttered.

There was a moving van next to the next-door's house – where the Dinklebergs lived when Timmy was a kid.

New neighbors.

But that wasn't what caught Timmy's eye.

It was the shape that was phasing in and out of the moving truck, carrying everything from a television to a lamp to a _couch_ with seemingly no effort, passing through the walls of the van and the house without breaking either.

"…"

"…"

"What the heck kind of neighbors _are_ these?" Timmy & Trixie asked each other at the same time.

Timmy pulled his car into the driveway, picked up the baby carrier holding Tommy, and carried it inside, setting it on the couch. Trixie did the same with Tammy, setting her beside her twin.

Then they stood outside and stared in awe at the spectacle unfolding next door.

Then it stopped.

And three ordinary people walked out.

A slightly muscular man with black hair who looked to be Timmy's senior by at least four years, wearing a plain white-and-red shirt and jeans.

A slim, pretty woman about her husband's age with shoulder-length black hair and amethyst eyes, with an almost entirely black ensemble.

And their toddling daughter, holding onto her mother's arm, wearing black like her mother. A spitting image, too.

Timmy & Trixie's hearts gave collective skips.

"Danny Phantom…?" Timmy whispered.

The husband seemed to hear this, because he looked across the way at his new neighbors, gave his wife a glance, and both turned to look (their daughter kept looking around at their surroundings curiously).

"Neighbors," said Danny. "Better say 'hello'."

Danny walked over, ignoring his wife's wary look, and held his hand out to Timmy & Trixie.

"Hello, I'm Danny Fenton, also known as Danny Phantom…" He cracked a slightly cynical smile. "But I'm sure you already knew that."

Timmy was still in shock for several moments, but common courtesy prevailed as he cleared his head (by vigorously shaking it) and stretched his hand out to take Danny's.

"Ahem! Sorry. Don't meet many celebrities," Timmy said, shaking hands, bridging the gap that had formerly separated their two worlds. "Timmy Turner. Nice to meet you, Mr. Fenton."

"No. Call me Danny," said the Phantom, shuddering slightly. "I'm not one for formalities," he added as he shook Trixie's hand.

Sam walked up, her and Danny's daughter trailing slightly behind.

"I see these aren't a pair of rabid screaming fans demanding to kiss Danny's d--… er, feet," Sam corrected, seeing her daughter out of the corner of her eyes.

"Hem! My name's Sam Fenton," she said, shaking Trixie's hand – "Trixie Turner." – then Timmy's. Sam added, "Call me 'Sammy', and you'll taste ectoplasm."

Timmy chuckled nervously in spite of himself.

Turning to her daughter – Timmy was surprised – Sam's morbid demeanor changed entirely. Her eyes sparkled now, and her voice lacked its dreading tone.

"Come on, Danni," she said brightly, tugging her daughter's hand. "Say hi to our new neighbors."

Danni walked slowly forward, mumbling something that sounded like 'hi'.

"This is Danni, our daughter," Danny said, picking up his daughter and kissing her nose, before rubbing his own against hers. "And she looks just like her beautiful mother, yes, she does!"

Danni giggled.

Sam's eye twitched at her daughter _giggling_.

"What's wrong, Sam?" Trixie asked.

"Giggling…too…girly," Sam muttered.

Changing subject, Timmy said nervously, "Uhh, you weren't serious about the whole 'taste ectoplasm' thing, were you?" Stealing a glance into Danny's house, Timmy saw that the Fenton house looked like everything had been settled in, as though they had lived there for weeks already.

Sam chuckled, "Not really; I haven't had Ghost powers since I was pregnant with Danni, but if you call me 'Sammy'…" Sam grimaced as the name left her lips, "it _will_ hurt, let me tell you." She smirked in an almost evil way.

"Yeah, I'm surprised Tucker got Val's bun in the oven after he called you that," Danny remarked, causing Sam to laugh, and Danni to go 'huh?'.

Timmy knew who Tucker and 'Val' were. He wasn't dumb; he'd read Wikipedia's articles on the Fentons and their associates a few times.

"So, may I ask why you relocated to Dimmsdale, home to Escalator-Land?" Trixie asked curiously.

Danny seemed a little startled by this question.

"Uhh, it's--…"

"We wanted a change of scenery; Amity Park's become Ecto-American Central since the Disasteroid," Sam cut in. "It was gettin' kinda weird back there."

"That," Danny continued, "And Paulina was getting kinda unbearable."

The four adults laughed, and Danni looked puzzled.

"Y'know, it's gonna be weird talking to you two," Danny said. "We only just met, and yet you two probably know everything about us."

"Well, not me so much," Trixie corrected, taking Timmy's hand. "Timmy's the Ecto-Head around here." She pecked his cheek. "_My_ Ecto-Head."

Timmy smiled as he felt his cheek burn.

"Hey!" Danny chuckled. "Get a room, you two!"

With a start, Timmy turned back to the house.

The twins. They'd left them unattended for the past several minutes.

Talk about bad parenting skills.

Trixie looked in Timmy's eyes, and he saw her longing to return to them as well.

"Sorry to cut the greetings short, Danny," Timmy said, walking to the door with Trixie, "We gotta check on the kids."

"'Kids'?" Sam said incredulously. "Aren't you two a little young to have a family already?"

"Do we look like we can't handle it?" Timmy asked. "Besides, you two can look if you want."

"Sure," said Danny. "Let's go, Danni," putting his daughter on his shoulders as he & Sam walked to their new next-door neighbors' house.

"Nice wallpaper," Danny said, looking around at the green wallpaper.

"A bit bright, though," Sam added.

There they were, on the couch, just where he & Trixie left them.

Danny's eyes widened as he spotted them. "Exactly how old are they?"

Timmy found that he couldn't look back at Danny; the faces of his twin children were all that existed for him now that he saw them again.

"A week old," Trixie answered for him. "We only just took them home today."

"He looks just like you," Sam said, peering down at Tommy.

"Well, not just like me," Timmy said; he had to have explained this to a lot of people before. "He has Trixie's hair."

"What are their names?" Danny asked.

"The boy is Thomas Michael Turner," Timmy explained, gazing unendingly at his children, "and my girl is Tamara Sophia Turner."

"Tommy and Tammy, huh?"

"We've met your sister," Trixie said suddenly.

"What?" said Timmy and Danny simultaneously.

_When did we meet his – wait!_ Timmy thought.

"When?" Danny asked.

"She was our Psychology teacher at DimCom," Timmy explained; how couldn't he have seen it before? Was his short attention span really _that_ short? He'd read the news report of Jasmine Fenton and Frederich Isak Showenhower getting married; it was big news, the sister of Danny Phantom marrying one of his old archenemies. How could he have forgotten?

Maybe he wasn't as much of an Ecto-Head as he thought.

Danny's face shined with comprehension, "Oh yeah!" He smirked slyly. "She _did_ mention you two, now that I think about it. You're the lovebirds, aren't you?"

Strangely, Danny & Sam seemed to snicker at this; Danni, meanwhile, seemed fascinated by Tommy and Tammy in their carriers.

"What's so funny?" asked Timmy.

"Just something from the high school years," Sam explained. "Before we started dating, everyone seemed to know we would one day. They said we were 'together', 'lovebirds', and everything in between…"

"And we always denied it," Danny added, putting Danni on the ground. "And _after_ we started going out, Paulina – an old crush – started calling Sam more…colorful things."

Then something very strange happened; Sam stared intently at Danny – who was standing slightly ahead of her, so he couldn't see her at all – and then he whipped around to face her. He looked a little startled about something.

"She _what_?" he asked.

"What was…?" _What was that?_ Timmy thought.

Danny looked confused, then slapped his forehead.

"Argh, I'm already taking it for granted that you know more about our lives than _we_ do," he muttered. "Sorry about that. After me & Sam started…you know…" He made an awkward gesture with his arms, hoping that the Turners would understand without him having to say something adult in front of the three young kids in the room.

But Timmy & Trixie understood. "Yeah?"

"…me & Sam developed this psychic connection," Danny explained. "No idea how or why – probably had something to do with my Ghost powers – but it helps when we want a private conversation."

"And what was that?" Timmy asked, "If you don't mind saying, that is?"

"You really wanna know?" Danny asked.

Timmy nodded.

"Paulina – who's so in love with my Ghost half, it isn't funny – named her daughter Daniela," he mumbled.

Timmy thought he understood; it meant that Paulina hadn't quite gotten over this obsession it sounded like she had with Danny Phantom.

"Not to be rude or anything," Sam said, heading to the door, "But we've been in this house longer than our own. Besides," She added with a smirk, "If we learned everything about you guys now, it wouldn't be fun knowing you."

"No problem there," Timmy said.

"See you later," Trixie said.

"Bye, Danni!" Timmy waved to the Phantom's daughter.

"Bye-bye!" she said back, waving with a bright smile, her blue eyes sparkling.

"I'm going…going…Ghost!" said Danny as he dramatically closed the door behind him and his family.

A beat.

Timmy & Trixie embraced.

"A superhero for a next-door neighbor…" Timmy whispered into Trixie's hair.

"What next?" Timmy could hear Trixie's smirk in her voice.

They pulled away slightly, walked around the coffee table and sat in the couch and took their twins out of the carriers and cradled them, Tammy in Timmy's arms, and Tommy in Trixie's.

Tammy snuggled into her father's chest, and Tommy's hand rested on Trixie's.

And then the new parents stared into each other's eyes.

"I love you, new mommy," Timmy breathed.

"I love you too, new daddy," came the soft reply.

And they kissed, and everything was perfect.

_**---**_

The odds of a GodChild in this day and age keeping his or her Fairy GodParents for more than a year are very long, especially when you consider how long children can keep secrets – or rather, _can't_ keep secrets. Therefore, it's natural to concede that a GodChild keeping his Fairies for a year or longer – or in the case of Timmy Turner, nine years, losing them only with the advent of adulthood on his 18th birthday – is an extremely rare occurrence, bordering on happening once in a blue moon.

However, the odds of that same GodChild having the same Fairy GodParents that his girlfriend or her boyfriend had when he or she was younger, and the two of them being permitted to share them by means of Section M, Subsection J, Amendment L of _Da Rules_ – "If a GodChild is in love with another child – who returns those feelings – who has Fairy GodParent(s) or had the same Fairy GodParent(s) as the former child at an earlier time, those two children shall be permitted to share the Fairy GodParent(s), regardless of past misdeeds." – are too long to even be considered remotely probable. Pigs flying over Hell as it freezes over is considered more plausible.

Timothy Tiberius Turner – and his future bride, Beatrix Elizabeth Tang II – had had Cosmo & Wanda McFae as Fairy GodParents for so long, that the Fairy dust Cosmo & Wanda exuded during those collective years as hers, then his, then their Fairy GodParents, had become engrained in their very genetic code.

Not giving them a touch of magical power in any way, though it did have an impact on their children, even though nothing was apparent yet.

Even now, a burgeoning psychic link is developing between the Turner twins, a mental link closer than any twins – human or Fairy – in the history of the Universe.

_**---**_

Danny, Sam, and Danni walked through the door into their house, and into the living room.

_How's everything look, Sam?_ Danny asked, looking around the room. He'd tried to arrange it the way it was back at their old house, just down the street from FentonWorks.

Danni seemed happy; immediately, she ran over to her ectoplasm-green building blocks, and started building.

_Fine._ Sam sounded distracted.

_What is it, Sam?_ Danny asked.

Sam stared into Danny's eyes; he saw the slight frown creasing her forehead.

_Are you sure about this, Danny?_ Sam asked. _I mean, Von Strangle acted like a you-know-what before. What makes you think that this might be more important than Ghosts?_

_Sam, these Shinwux guys – according to Jorgen, anyway – have some sort of grudge against the Turners, especially Timmy_, Danny replied. _The war doesn't sound like it's going so good for Fairy World; they won't be able to keep the Shinwux far from human civilization forever. Sooner or later, they'll break through, and it sounds like the Turners are gonna be the first targets. And if I can protect someone from something outside his control – Ghost or no Ghost – I'll do it. That's what heroes do._

Sam, to Danny's surprise, smiled.

_And that's one of the things I love about you: putting other's needs ahead of your own_, she said. She felt the side of his head, resting her small white hand on a small bald streak, too small to be seen from anywhere but less than a foot away. _Is that where…?_

_Yeah_, Danny put his hand over hers; her hand was warm. He felt her wedding band. _Studwell put the chip in there. My Ghost Sense should be able to pick up magical creatures now. Hopefully, the Shinwux qualify as 'magical'_, he added grimly. _Either way, fighting them'll be different than fighting Ghosts. Probably more like fighting Frea-- _Fred_ (I'm still not used to him being my brother-in-law) – when he had that Reality Gauntlet. Remember?_

_How could I forget? _Sam replied.

_And if they _do_ come creepin' around here, please be careful,_ Sam said as she pressed her lips to Danny's.

_Don't worry, love; I will be_, Danny said to her as he returned it, his hands in her raven hair.

Danni, meanwhile, had spelled her name with the blocks.

The Shinwux _would_ come for the Turners. Danny knew it. It wasn't a thought; it was a feeling. It was inevitable. If the Big Brother really detested Timmy & Trixie as much as Jorgen told Danny, they were in real trouble if his armies broke through Fairy World's ranks. And, to be honest – he wouldn't tell Sam this, or his parents, or Jazz, or Timmy, or anyone – he was almost looking forward to it on an instinctive, gut level. Because when they finally got here, whether it was within a year, ten years, or fifty…

It would be one _hell_ of a great fight.

* * *

(**Author's Note:** Didn't want you guys to have to wait this long for this chapter. I wanted to write it and put it up in mid-January, since my classes didn't start until the 22nd of January, but inevitably, most of my time trying to write was just hours of me getting easily distracted here on and over at DA. I apologize to everyone.

Yup. Even those that left when they thought I didn't update for months.

This chapter went through a last-minute title change. It used to be called 'Tommy and Tammy', but I found that it didn't focus as much on the twins as I'd thought. So rather than go back and rewrite it to focus more on the twins, I took the lazy man's route: I renamed it, to the more broad 'New Arrivals', in reference to the Turners new neighbors.

Another change was made when Sam originally was to have plant-like powers, having inherited them apparently from another Undergrowth attack (presumably before the chapter 'The Unknown Enemy'. But no matter what I did, it always felt like a clumsy addition. So I omitted Sam's plant powers; she's just gonna have that psychic connection with Danny!

Also, this is the last chapter of _Happily Ever After_. But this is not the end! And no, I'm _not_ going to be cheesy and say that this is only the beginning.

…

This is only the beginning…!

There, I said it!

LOL!

Do you think I'd leave this with so much unresolved (Trixie still having not fully forgiven her mother, the upcoming Shinwux invasion, Rudy & Tootie's child, etc.)? Oh ye of little faith. J/k!

Anyway, just the Epilogue – 'A Future Worth Getting To' – left to do after this, which will tie a lot of things up (and introduce a LOT of new characters), and then a cliffhanger, and then it's on to the sequel series: **Fairly OddParents Next**!

But not yet! I'm taking a break from FOP fanfictions after this. I might work on other stories set in this same universe, though. Consider them prequels. Look for them in my Profile; some might not even be in the FOP section! (you'll tell they're in the same universe as _Happily Ever After_ by the prefix 'HEA: -'.)

Once again, I would like to dedicate this chapter to Patrick T. C. "**Captain-Galant**" Pope, Annette "**qwerty-kitties**", and your newborn Kayleigh Anne! The Force be with you three! And all my faithful readers!)


	19. Chapter 18

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

* * *

**CHAPTER 18: A Future Worth Getting To**

It had been nearly ten years since Tommy and Tammy Turner were born to Timmy & Trixie Turner.

And in that time, many things had changed, and many had stayed the same.

Just one month after the Turner twins were born, Rudy & Tootie gave birth to a baby boy, whom Tootie named Rudy. When asked, she replied that it was in memory of her lost brother. Even so, his birth certificate read 'Rudy Reed Jr.'.

Two months after that, Danny – Timmy's next-door neighbor – rushed to the hospital with Timmy and family in tow. Upon arrival, Timmy found out why.

Danny's elder sister, Jazz, had given birth to her and Frederich's daughter. She was named Anastasia Lydia Showenhower by her father, but had since received the nickname 'Stacy' from her mother. Stacy looked much like her mother, but with her father's skin tone and eye color.

On the subject of mothers, Trixie found herself unable to completely forgive her mother for putting her through such misery in her childhood. However, she still kept in regular contact with her mother, even when she decided to live apart from Trixie's father out of shame.

Timmy & Trixie graduated from college, along with everyone else they knew who attended that post-high school torture session. Timmy's job led him to work as a junior detective in the Dimmsdale Police Department, while Trixie opened up a beauty salon downtown called _Trixie's_.

Chester went on to bring irony to his last name and become one of the greatest baseball players of the age.

Sanjay ran for Congress and became one of the two Senators for California, the other being Elmer.

Sammy decided to simply be a homemaker, taking care of Jessie while Chester traveled around the country and made home-runs look easy.

As for AJ…he never returned from his disappearance.

Timmy & Trixie tried to work out their job schedules so that one was home while the other was working. However, because of the nature of Timmy & Trixie's jobs, that did not always happen, and so they sometimes had to leave Tommy and Tammy either with Timmy's parents, with Trixie's father, with Rudy & Tootie, or with Sammy. However, Sammy would sometimes take Jessie along to follow Chester in his baseball exploits, and was not always available to babysit.

It turned out that Tammy Turner was nearsighted and needed contact lenses. When she found them irritating, Timmy & Trixie decided to buy her glasses instead.

Tootie was visiting at the time.

"Wait," she'd said, bouncing the kindergarten Rudy on her leg. "Try these first, Tammy." She removed her own glasses, and handed them to Tammy.

Tammy put them on. Blinking a few times, she smiled.

"They wowk! They wowk pewfectwy!" she had cried, hugging Tootie's leg. "T'ank you, Aunt Tootie!"

Tootie ruffled her goddaughter's hair. "Don't mention it, sweetie."

"You're so nice, Mom," said Rudy Jr. with a smile.

Timmy could remember looking into Trixie's eyes at that moment, and she smiled at him, and he could tell she was thinking the same thing as he was.

_We could've gotten them ourselves_, he thought. _But at least the contact lenses won't go to waste; Tootie can have them._

As the years passed, Tommy and Tammy's bond only seemed to grow deeper. Rarely seen apart, their kindergarten teacher put in a word to their grade-school principal to keep them in the same class (after all, since their grades on any given day were always best when they were in the same class and participating in the same activities, it would reflect well on the school's educational facilities if both their grades were at their highest). And at home, Timmy & Trixie, expecting the rambunctious twins to argue over who got the top bunk and who won at _Great Fray Fighters Rumble_, were startled at how quietly they seemed to settle things. Timmy knew Trixie so well that she often need not talk to communicate her thoughts to him, but this was almost…curious. Especially since they were not troublemakers of any sort.

Tommy and Tammy had reached a stage in the development of their telepathy where it was easier than speaking aloud. As such, they were able to bicker amongst themselves while they were eating, brushing their teeth, or during the rough-and-tumble that is the stock-and-trade of children across the world.

Around the same time, two more scions of the Fenton family tree made their presence in the living world. Danny & Sam gave birth to William Daniel Fenton, or 'Billy', with bright-violet eyes so like his mother's, and – strangely – snow-white hair. Danny attested in later months that Billy's Ghost form's hair was an inky-black.

Frederich & Jazz gave birth to Jack Showenhower, a little boy with a mop of messy black hair and his mother's aquamarine eyes. Invited to see little Jack at the hospital, Timmy tried putting a red cap he'd found on Jack. It didn't fit, but it looked good on the kid. He did suspect that Jack would grow out of it eventually, as he had his own silly pink hat.

Timmy & Trixie deliberately bought pink clothes for Tommy. Initially he protested, but conceded when Timmy spoke of how he wore it all the time as a kid. Eventually, Tommy would seem upset when he _didn't_ have pink clothes to wear.

_Like father, like son_, Timmy thought smilingly as he sorted through that day's mail, the sounds of Tommy and Tammy playing outside wafting in through the back door.

Unaware that that day would awaken old and suppressed memories, reunite him with old friends, and bring his family into an empyreal conflict.

* * *

"…Uhh, Skoll?"

"What is it, Chank?"

"I have some lingering uncertainty that it was a sound notion of yours to act on your assumption that our renowned Emperor desired for us to acquire this orbiting sphere of carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen."

"…Hey, ZID? You understand a word he just said?"

"_No shirt, no shoes, no service!"_ ZID's screeching robotic – not to mention unabashedly jubilant – exclamation grated at the hearing organs of the two aliens present. Even the tech-savvy Chank found he could not erase the glitches in ZID's systems, no matter how thorough his efforts. Attempts to completely reboot his CPU proved fruitless; the virus just kept coming back.

"What did I tell ya, Chank? Now again, in plain Zyiyqan."

"You may have made a mistake, Skoll. Just because your father told you to go conquer a planet _on the other edge of the galaxy_—…"

"Well, there ya go. Soon, we'll be back on our feet, and all those splorches—…" Chank winced at Skoll's foul mouth. "…—at the Academy will be sorry they ever laughed at me!"

"Your father doesn't _care_ what happens to you, Skoll. For Kria's sake, your own younger sister has conquered more planets in the name of the Zyiyqan Empire than you! Your. Younger. Sister! I may be your crèche-brother, but eventually, I'll have to stand up to your actions that only border on the edge of reason, and say—…"

"SHUT UP, CHANK!" Skoll shouted, whipping around and slapping Chank across the face, his tail swishing irately.

"We're gonna conquer this planet, like it or not. I'm the leader here, and before you know it, they'll be parading about my great deeds back on Kria Zyiyq before ya know it!"

"_End of first sequence and fade to black!"_ cheered ZID.

Sighing, Chank folded his feathered wings around himself, feeling a sudden chill as Skoll adjusted the trajectory of their HG-42 cruiser into the blue planet's atmosphere. He could not tell why, but he…well, he'd always had bad feelings before missions. At Blaard, at Xrob, at the capital city of the planet Azgoth, he was plagued by a foreboding that this mission would be more embarrassing than the last.

And in each case, Chank knew exactly what they were coming to face, what exactly Skoll was rushing into without thinking, and was frustrated that Skoll ignored his warnings.

But this was different.

Chank was outright terrified. There was something different about this planet, but he couldn't place it. It was this unknown variable that frightened Chank.

He loved Skoll as though they had both sprung from the same womb, but Skoll was so headstrong and egotistical sometimes, often to the detriment of the missions they were sent on.

But this was one for the books. Skoll's father, Emperor Lednergmrux, had ordered Skoll, Chank, and ZID to conquer a planet somewhere in Sector AD-896.

"Rather close to Yugopotamia, the Sunless World," His Majesty had said. "Within a trillion miles, I would say, by the Archaic Measurements. I know nothing else of the planet; just go. Get out of my sight!"

And now, here they were.

Sighing in resignation, Chank read the computer print-out, listing their designated arrival.

Some place called…

Dimmsdale, California.

* * *

"Mo_ther_…"

"Work with me here, Vanie!"

Vanessa winced at her mother's pet name for her, but kept her mouth shut. She _hated_ being called 'Vanie' like hating being called 'Vanie' was going out of style, but honestly, her mother was somewhat frightening when she got angry.

Vanessa winced again as her mother pulled her chocolate-colored hair through an elastic holder. She hated ponytails, too. Why restrict free movement?

"May I ask _why_ you're doing this to me _now_, Mother?" Vanessa ventured.

Mom normally ever does this when she's taking me to these really fancy restaurants, Vanessa thought.

"I _totally_ thought you'd never ask!" Vanessa's mother said in that grating Valley Girl accent that always made Vanessa cringe. Vanessa Star recalled a time when she'd thought her mother was only putting that accent on to annoy her. Almost ten years later, Vanessa could rightfully say that it was her mother's natural accent.

And she thanked whatever higher power there was that she did not inherit it. Even so, she was surprised how _dark_ her voice sounded. She scarcely sounded like she sounded like she was related to her own mother. Indeed, she reminded herself a lot of a purple-haired girl character from some old TV show about a stupid alien invader.

"The letter came," Veronica Star told her daughter. "He wants us to come. Now."

Vanessa heart sank, but she hid it well.

_That explains why the TVs are unplugged_, she thought. _And the lamps, too. And the microwave. And the refrigerator. And the fans, even though it's 90 frickin' degrees outside!_

"Really?" she asked, feigning excitement.

"Totally!"

Cringe. Left eye twitch.

"And once we get there, 'everything is gonna be _totally_ swell'! That's what the letter said… except for the 'totally' part."

"Great, Mom," Vanessa said flatly. "I just need to go to the bathroom."

"Be right down, Vanie!" Wince. "We're leaving for Dimmsdale in a few minutes. He said, 'Now!'."

Vanessa trudged up the stairs to the bathroom, opened the door, and slammed it as hard as she could without giving her mother reason to assume something was wrong.

She didn't really need to use the bathroom. She just wanted some time to let some steam out without her mother's overbearing, Big Brother-esque presence keeping her from being herself.

She growled, her fists clenching her fingernails into her palms.

"Mother…" she hissed to herself. "Why are you so obsessed with the man who is my father?"

Vanessa was quite the opposite of her somewhat air-headed mother. She was dark and brooding, and – so she thought – had a better perception of How Things Are Meant To Be than her mother. As far as she was concerned (from what her mother had told her), her father's feelings for her mother were most likely just from the neck down. However, Vanessa did not regret the one night that her parents had together.

Because that was how she was conceived.

Still, she didn't see how her mother could be so blasé about the impact she could have on a happy family. Unless, her mother was right for a change and her father's wife was as horrid as she made her out to be.

_Why are you so hung up on feelings that may not even be_ there_, Mother?_ she thought. _That letter could just be so he can tell you in person that everything between him and you is off._

Vanessa stood before the mirror and regarded the scowling girl with chocolate-brown hair in a ponytail and cerulean eyes inside it.

_And how about letting me keep some of my individuality, Mother? I would appreciate it if you didn't try to mold me into a reflection of what you looked like in middle school! I'm my own person!_

She pulled out the elastic in her hair, and felt her hair cascade down her back. Vanessa smiled at her reflection now.

Vanessa did not think of herself as conceited, but she did think of herself as looking quite lovely. She loved the sheen of her hair, and the fact that it was slightly mussy in the front. She could only assume that she had gotten it from her father, because her mother was blonde. She could also assume that, but for her lip shape, which she'd inherited from her mother, that she looked a lot like her father, because her eyes, while blue, were not the same shade as her mother's, and her nose was not pointed like her mother's.

"VANIE! You done up there?!"

Vanessa cringed; she'd forgotten that they were leaving in a few minutes. Hastily flushing the toilet and dampening her hands in the sink – so her mother would think that she had done business in the bathroom other than blowing off steam – Vanessa trudged out the door, walked down the stairs, and faced her mother.

"What about the rest of the stuff?" she asked.

"The movers'll handle it," Veronica smiled, pointing out the window. There, Vanessa saw at least three moving vans waiting to load the contents of the soon-to-be-vacated Star household.

Vanessa trudged out the front door and into the passenger's seat of the Star car, buckling in.

Veronica slid into the driver's seat, closed and locked the door, and turned on the ignition. Giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek, Veronica smiled as she pulled out of the driveway.

"Next stop, Dimmsdale!" Veronica smiled.

* * *

The first day of summer vacation.

_So, what did you find, Tommy?_ Tammy asked her younger twin brother through their telepathic bond. A mystery and a boon to the siblings, it meant that they could have full-on shouting matches within earshot of their parents – or guardians like Aunt Sammy, who was off in Philadelphia watching Uncle Chester play the Phillies – and not get into an inch of trouble.

Tommy turned to his sister with a smile, his black hair hanging messily over his eyes. He was a rather excitable and street-smart boy, marginally less book-smart than his sister, and his impulsivity tended to land him in a few scrapes that only his sister could extricate him from. However, he was in his heart of hearts a gentle, sensitive, and surprisingly intelligent lad; Uncle Chester would sometimes joke that he didn't inherit the "Turner cheese-brain gene".

_Dad told me he buried something out here when he was ten_, he told her. _But he couldn't remember what it was, only that he thought it was important._

_So, you wanna dig it up?_ Tammy asked, beginning to catch a little smile herself; though not as impulsive as her brother, it was not like she actively avoided having fun when there was fun to be had. She was the brains of the outfit, and as such, her social life was slightly less laudable than Tommy's was. Her Uncle Chester often said that she was a wiz kid on par with his old friend AJ; she could finish tests twice as fast as the rest of the students in her class; even her own brother, even when she was feeding him the answers through their telepathic link. The Turner daughter was also a fine mediator, able to understand both sides of an argument – though her blunt responses meant that she could sometimes come across as insensitive. Could not be further from the truth. Despite her cool demeanor, she could be easily tempted towards impulse decisions. Such as now.

_Sure!_ Tommy said.

_Where did he say he buried it?_ Tammy asked.

_Right by that bush_, he said, pointing out the flowery bush under the tree in the back of their yard. Tammy nodded at the spot, before walking to the tool shed built into the back of the house.

_Think it could be comic books?_ Tommy asked her eagerly. _Comics that his parents thought were too cool and violent for him to read, and so he buried them so that they wouldn't find out he had 'em?_

Tammy returned from the tool shed with a slightly rusted shovel. And a smirk.

_That's what we're gonna find out, bro_, she said.

After about ten minutes of digging, the two slightly sweating twins – taking turns with the shovel – finally hit something with a small THUNK.

"Hmm?" Tammy muttered aloud, stepping into the hole, handing the shovel to Tommy (who stuck it in the ground a few feet away) and brushing some dirt away with her bare hands.

She came upon a faded and slightly rusted lunch box, broadcasting a television show called _Jonny Hunt_.

Tammy's smile reached her ears. So did Tommy's.

_We found it, Tommy!_ she exclaimed as she turned to face her brother.

_Let's show it to Dad; he'll be so proud of us_, Tommy added.

Tammy ran past Tommy, clutching the Jonny Hunt box to her chest.

_Wait up, Tams!_ he shouted after her as he followed, wondering just how she could run faster than he did when she was still a few inches shorter than him.

He stood next to her as she called out to their dad, looking through the bills.

"Hey, Daddy!" Tammy said, holding out the _Jonny Hunt_ lunchbox. "What's this?"

_**--**_

Timmy turned to the sound of his daughter's sweet voice, and saw her and her brother standing by the door to the backyard. In Tammy's hands, was…

Timmy smiled as the memories flooded back into his head. He knelt down before them.

"Hey!" he took the box gently from Tammy. "I remember this. It's my time capsule!"

Timmy had buried it when he was ten years old, but could not for the life of him recall what he'd put in it. Figuring he'd remember it quicker if he looked inside before he left for work, he opened it.

An old TV guide. A picture of a scowling redheaded teenage girl crossed out with red marker. Other scraps of paper and photos.

There.

That one at the bottom.

That was what Timmy was looking for. He didn't know how, but he knew this was the crux of the time capsule to begin with.

Pulling it out, Timmy examined the picture.

It was himself, looking teary-eyed about…something. On the table next to him, was…

Timmy furrowed his brow.

The fish bowl.

Two perfectly normal goldfish.

Timmy smiled as he recalled those fish. They had been his friends and confidantes when even Chester and AJ had turned from him. They never talked back, but Timmy supposed it was that old saying: Confession is good for the soul. And their life span – eight years, close to nine – was something he'd not heard of before or since getting them. Strangely, they'd only had one baby, and that was within two years of buying them. It died around the same time its parents did.

"Ah well," Timmy muttered, smiling as he put the picture in his breast pocket. "Time to go to work."

Just as Timmy made a quick mental note to buy his children a pair of goldfish of their own, he noticed a flash of metal out the window.

_Just in time_, he thought. _Trixie has her reservations about these new inventions, but hey. Sammy's outta town, Mom and Dad are in Bora Bora with Tabby, Trixie's dad and mom are at marriage counseling, Danny's at work, Sam's got her hands full with _her_ kids, Trixie's working, too, and and so am _I_ in a few minutes. 'Sides, service is cheap; only 5 an hour._

Timmy stepped to the door, opening it. "And time for _your_ babysitter."

_**--**_

Tommy and Tammy froze at the sight of the metal monster that hovered through the door.

The V-800, the latest service offered by the _Precious Gift from Above Babysitting Service_. Green torso. Orange-red wires resembling hair in a ponytail on its head. Pink glowing robot-eyes. Feminine attitude.

The next generation of 'Icky'.

"_Hi, Mr. Turner,"_ it droned in something approximating the exact tone of a teenage girl; somehow, its voice made Tommy and Tammy think of Aunt Tootie. _"I'm here to babysit the little targets…I mean, the precious gifts from above. Ha-ha, ha-ha, ha-ha."_

Tommy and Tammy both broke out into a cold sweat, giving each other a wary look.

_Am I crazy to have a bad feeling about this?_ Tommy said to Tammy.

_I thought I was the only one_, Tammy replied.

This was the first time they saw this…thing, and already their first impressions were screaming for them to run up the steps and bolt the bedroom door. Preferably while they were _inside_ the room.

But rather than risk letting this thing out of their sight, they hid behind their father's legs, giving each one a death-grip.

Their father seemed puzzled at their behavior, and put a finger to his chin, "Hmm…There's something about this that's familiar, but I…"

His suspicious demeanor was shattered by the buzz of his watch-phone; it displayed the message: "Reminder to self: Get to work, you lazy bum! – Tim".

"Whoops! Gotta go. I'm gonna be late!" he smiled as he walked to the door, then saw his children hanging onto his legs.

"Bye, Tammy! Bye, Tommy!" Shaking each leg, each kid landed with a bound in front of the V-800.

The V-800 turned to face the man of the house.

"_Have a memorable day, Mr. Turner!"_ it intoned in that teenage robot voice.

With a smile, their dad closed and locked the door.

No time wasted, the V-800 deployed twin flamethrowers, a chainsaw, a buzz-saw, a taser, and a spinning corkscrew.

_Okay_, Tommy said. _Make that a _super_-bad feeling!!_

_Run!_ Tammy told Tommy.

Both ran to the window as their father pulled out of the driveway.

"NO!" They screamed, tears streaming down their cheeks. "DON'T LEAVE! TAKE US WITH YOU!"

_**--**_

Unseen by the Turner twins or the V-800, a fish bowl appeared on the table in the corner.

One had pink eyes. The other, green.

Both had crowns floating over their heads.

And human faces.

"Like father, like son," the pink-eyed fish said to the green-eyed one.

"Tell me about it!" the green-eyed one said cheerily.

The pink-eyed fish gave her companion a slightly pitiful glance. Sure, she had been married to him 9915 years now, but he could be a little oblivious to more sensitive issues.

Of course, even _he_ could not be oblivious to the reason they were in the Turner household for the first time in nearly twenty years.

_RING! RING! RING!_

The pink-eyed fish's cell phone began ringing.

"Hello?" she answered it with her fin.

"_Mom, I'm at the McBadbats' hotel in Philly. I'm about to appear to them and explain the situation."_

"Good job, sport," she smiled. "And good luck. We're at our old GodChild's house, and we're about to tell his kids about the War."

"_Good luck, Mom."_

"Be sure to wait for the Memory Revision Department to restore all memories to all former GodChildren still alive. The War is coming to Earth; it's important for those who had GodParents during the rise of Shinwux to know what's going on."

"_Okay. So I wait to start until Mrs. McBadbat starts going, 'What? What's going on?'"_

The pink-eyed fish let out a warbling laugh.

"Well, don't wait too long after that. Good-bye, honey."

"_Bye, Mom. I love you!"_

"Love you too."

_Click! Beep-beep-beep…_

The pink-eyed fish's expression became serious. All business.

"Let's go, sweetie," she said to her emerald-eyed companion.

_POOF!_

_**--**_

Tommy and Tammy were cowering the corner in the shadow of the V-800 as it loomed towards them, its many weapons raised, undoubtedly to inflict unimaginable torture on the twins…

When it went limp, its pink eyes dimming to black, and its hulky form crashed to the floor with a deafening CRASH. Pictures dislodged by the deactivation fell to the floor, strewing glass along the floor.

Tommy and Tammy felt no relief; only confusion, and fear.

_What's it doing?_ Tommy asked. _Is it trying to trick us?_

_I don't know_, Tammy replied.

_I'm gonna find out_, Tommy said, getting up and boldly stepping towards the robotic babysitter.

_Be careful, Tommy; it could be a trap_, Tammy warned him.

Tommy nodded, and stepped forward, kicking the robot lightly.

It fell onto its back with an even louder CRASH. Whatever pictures weren't knocked over or off the walls did fall now.

But that was the clincher.

_Well, if it's playing deactivated_, Tommy shrugged his shoulders as he faced Tammy, _It's the best acting job I've seen._

Tammy sighed, walking up next to her brother.

"But why did it deactivate?" she asked aloud.

A Magic 9-Ball dropped from the ceiling.

Tommy and Tammy jumped back.

There was no hole in the ceiling!

Where did this come from?

It split open, pink smoke spilling out and filling the room…

Before coalescing into a ball, and exploding outwards.

"Hey, Tommy and Tammy!" came a duet of voices from within. When it cleared…

Floating there were two people, each barely two feet tall.

The woman had swirly pink hair, eyes of the same color, a yellow t-shirt, and black pants and shoes.

The man had mess lime-green hair, lime-green eyes, a white long-sleeve shirt, a black tie, and black pants and shoes.

Both had floating crowns, buzzy fly-like wings, and wands in their hands.

The green-haired man floated forward.

"I'm Cosmo!" he cheered.

"And I'm Wanda!" his companion said as she floated forward.

"And we're…" They both floated back, and a large stage appeared where the coffee table was; it had lights and sparklers, and a big sign that read 'FAIRY GODPARENTS'.

"…your Fairy GodParents!"

_No. Way_, Tommy said, stunned.

_I'll say_, Tammy replied, likewise.

* * *

Danni Fenton flew over the skyline of Dimmsdale in Ghost form. With summer vacation having just started, she decided to take a little break from her father's training and use her powers for more…luxurious purposes.

She was not ignorant of her father's heroism when he was a teenager; how could she be? Her father was the savior of the world. It would be virtually impossible to keep a tidbit like that hidden from even the densest or most ignorant of individuals for very long.

But still, Ghost attacks were far and few between; even with Ecto-American population on the rise across the country, as more and more Ghosts began acquiring citizenship – even _re_-acquiring it, in the case of citizens of the United States that had since passed on – the crime rate in Ecto-American sectors was remarkably low. Danni's life was far different from the life it sounded like her father had led.

So why the hard training sessions three days a week?

"To keep your powers in check," her father would say to that question, before conspicuously changing the subject.

But Danni was hardly like her namesake: a cousin of her father's who was killed on the line of duty. Dani was spunky and cheerful, and it sounded like childish pranks were not beneath her. Taking a leaf from her mother's book, Danni was fiercely independent and individualistic. While she appreciated her father's training, she did have to question it. It wasn't like there was a _war _coming or something…

A chill like nothing Danni had ever felt shot through her.

It was her Ghost Sense, which her father had told her was an instinct that warned when a Ghost was near. A whisp of blue smoke would emerge from her mouth, and she would shiver for a few seconds. She'd felt it just prior to the occasional Ghost attack, or when she passed an Ecto-American student in school.

This one was for the books.

It felt like she'd been dunked into a tub of ice-cold water, and her breath seized in her chest – even though she did not need to breathe as a Ghost. Danni swore she saw ice beginning to form on her hazmat suit.

_This Ghost must be…really powerful_, Danni thought, then mentally kicked herself for that mental understatement. _Who am I kidding? This Ghost is really powerful. Probably more powerful than Dad. Where _is_ this dork, anyway?_

Danni found him within two seconds.

It _had_ to be him.

Honestly, how many non-Ghosts or Ecto-Americans floated on the edge of a tenement skyscraper, wearing a black robe that covered every inch of his body, with holes cut out of the back for his cobalt-blue angel wings?

In the _DimmSkies One, Version 2.0_, Danny had just finished his paperwork and was about to clock in for the day, when…

A whisp of pink smoke emerged from his mouth. A slight chill passed down his spine.

Danny's blood curdled. Either it was an emissary from Fairy World, or…

_God, no_, Danny thought. _Not now. Not today, of all days. Danni's flying around town today._

In a literal flash, Fenton became Phantom and phased through the wall.

Danni tentatively landed behind this Grim Reaper knock-off. He didn't budge an inch.

"Hey pal," she called out to him, maintaining a battle pose, keeping her arms crossed slightly in front of her, bracing herself in case he decided to strike. "What brings you to Dimmsdale?" In spite of herself, she tried to sound polite, should he take offense to her first two words.

He didn't so much as twitch. He could have been a statue.

"Okay, buddy," she said, stepping towards him. The chills became stronger as she approached. He was taller than she thought; as she edged closer, she estimated him at being almost seven feet tall.

She feigned a smile, to cover her creeping fear. "Okay, buddy. You're honestly starting to creep me out, so if you'll just come with me…"

She reached out to grab his arm.

It happened in a flash.

She saw first a flash of blue, than of green, and before she knew it, she was on the ground ten feet away. She felt a familiar presence, one her Ghost Sense had long since registered as benign and non-threatening.

She looked up.

Her father.

Danni never saw her father in full battle mode. She'd seen him having gone Ghost, and she'd seen old family films of him in battles. But she never saw him so incensed.

His eyes were blazing green, and he seemed almost to be flickering with ectoplasmic fire.

"You can't stay away from my family long, can you, murderer?" he snarled.

The Grim Reaper guy got up from the ectoplasmic blast that knocked him from his feet and faced Danni's father. Flaming green eyes flared under the hood.

"It _has_ been a long time, hasn't it, Fenton?" Danni shuddered in spite of herself; that voice was just so…cold, and hateful.

"Fifteen years, actually," Danny noted hostilely. "And you came back way too soon, for the good of my family."

Danny faced his daughter, and the rage on his face vanished, and his face flooded with love and relief.

"Danni…" he said. "Go home to Mom. You can't beat this guy." Danni wasn't about to argue with that. "Tell her that they've broken through, and that they're coming."

Danni couldn't make heads or tails of this.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, floating up to him.

"Don't worry," Danny said, suddenly embracing his daughter tightly. "_She'll_ understand."

Danni, startled, returned the hug.

Her father looked into her glowing green eyes, and she suddenly felt cold…and it wasn't from the chills of the Grim Reaper guy. "If I don't come back…I love you, Danni."

"I love you too, Dad." Danni's eyes stung, and she wanted to cry.

"Now go, fast!" Danny told her.

Danni flew home as fast as she could.

And didn't look back.

She did not want him to see her tears.

_**--**_

Danny turned to face Xythimot again.

"I noticed you didn't even _try_ to vaporize my daughter," Danny growled.

"It is just as well," Xythimot said from under his hood. "By War's end, she will either be assimilated into my form, killed, or by my side."

"Like _Hell_ she will!" Danny snapped. "Danni would never side with a monster like you!"

"Temper, temper, Fenton," said the Nazgûl knock-off as he lowered his hood.

It was a vastly different sight to Danny than the last time his hood fell.

Now, Xythimot seemed to have a _form_ under his spectral cloak now. Possibly a side effect of having assimilated hundreds of Ghosts Danny had ever fought.

His face looked very similar to Timmy's, but somehow stolid and hardened, with a pair of fangs resting on his lower lips. His skin was palest green, his hair wild and white and grown down to the middle of his back. His eyes glowed a piercing emerald hue, the slits of his pupils evident even at Danny's distance of five paces.

"I learned to control my temper years ago, Fenton," he continued. "You would do well to do the same. Though, perhaps you would need the Keyblade to do that. Turner's usage of it cleansed me of such corruption."

"Shut up so I can whoop your sorry butt to the Shinwux Islands and back," Danny snarled, forming ectoplasmic energy on his fists.

"Gladly," sneered Xythimot, forming a pair of ectoplasmic blades from _his_ fists.

And they charged.

* * *

"Mom!"

Sam turned from Billy's crib, and was bowled over by her daughter, who'd phased through the wall and grabbed her round the waist in tightly, landing on her back.

"Danni!" Sam said. "What's the big deal? Where's your father?"

"Mom!" Sam could see that Danni's eyes were red, and her face stained from what looked like tears. "Some Ghost guy attacked me, and Dad's fighting him now! My Ghost Sense was so strong, I nearly froze in the sky."

"Who was he?" Sam asked, concerned for her husband.

"I don't know, but Dad seemed to know him."

Sam's heart skipped a beat. There weren't many Ghosts left that Danny knew anymore. They all started disappearing some years ago.

"And Dad told me to tell you something."

"What is it?" Sam tried to sound blankly curious, but inside she was storming with worry, confusion, and fear.

Then Danni dropped the bomb.

"They broke through. They're coming. That's what he told me to tell you. He said you'd – that you'd understand."

Sam froze. _But Von Strangle said that they'd positioned Fairy World defense forces around Earth cities that couldn't be diverted by any means unless…_

Sam went slack, and Danni and Billy looked at their mother confusedly, unaware of the horrible truth echoing in Sam's mind.

…_Unless Fairy World itself suffered a full-force Shinwux attack._

* * *

"So, you're our Fairy GodParents?" Tammy asked Wanda, sipping from the cup of tea Wanda had poofed up for all four present.

Wanda paused for a moment. Too long, she noted of herself, because her twin charges gave each other wary glances.

"Weeeeellll," Cosmo said before Wanda could answer the GodChildren, "Not exactly?"

"What do you mean by 'Not exactly'?" Tammy asked.

Wanda temporarily glared at her husband – she loved him more than anything, but his timing sometimes bordered on disastrous – before fixing her GodChildren with a sad and intense look. (Cosmo, meanwhile, poofed a zipper up over his mouth.)

She could tell that this was not the best of introductions she'd ever had with GodChildren. She was hesitant to cut to the chase and tell these children the real reasons she was here. Not because she felt them unworthy of knowing, or because she didn't like them. She felt they had every right to know what was going on, and she loved them as though they were her own children.

No. She was hesitant to tell them, because their lives had been so uncomplicated before, and this was only going to change their otherwise simple, idyllic lifestyles.

Forever.

And her hesitance was being misread by her wards as dislike.

That just wouldn't do.

"Trust me," Wanda said, and she could tell her dark tone caught both twins off guard, "All I wish is that me & Cosmo could be your Fairy GodParents in less tumultuous times. And if the only problem was your travesty of a babysitter…" Wanda cast a dark glance at the deactivated hulk of the V-800. "…I would be happy."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tommy asked, folding his arms and cocking an eyebrow.

Wanda sighed, setting her tea down.

"Things in Fairy World…aren't going so well, sport," she told her godson.

"What do you mean?" Tammy asked, concern cutting into her tone. Tommy's folded arms loosened up a little, and he too looked anxious.

"Fairy World is at war with a race of irate magical beings calling themselves the Shinwux. Fairy World has done its best to keep the war off of Earth, but…"

"But they broke through?"

"Unfortunately. Every Fairy that received a degree in GodParenting has been dispatched to Earth to protect the humans."

"But how'd they get to Earth?" Tammy asked. "I just learned about Fairy World ten minutes ago, but you'd think Fairy World would do their best to make sure this didn't happen."

"Well," Wanda said, "I don't know everything, but I'll take a crack at what I_ think_ happened. Jorgen Von Strangle – the toughest Fairy in the universe, and the Head of State in Fairy World – must've stationed all of Fairy World's defense forces around Earth, to protect you from the Shinwux."

"But doesn't that leave Fairy World less protected?" Tommy put in.

Wanda stared at Tommy in shock for several seconds, stunned by this insight by Timmy's son.

"What did I say?" Tommy Turner asked.

"You kids these days _are_ getting smarter," Wanda noted aloud. "Your father wouldn't have noticed that."

"You knew our dad?" Tammy asked.

_POOF!_

The zipper on Cosmo's mouth was off.

"_Knew_ him?" he spouted with a smile. "We were his GodParents. Now when I say, 'we', I mean me & Wanda, 'cause you kids obviously couldn't be your father's Fairy GodParents!" Cosmo's face fell suddenly. "…Could you?"

"No, they couldn't, honey," Wanda said, before facing the twins again.

"You guys were Dad's Fairy GodParents when he was a kid?" Tommy asked, smiling.

"And your mother's, too," Wanda continued, smiling in spite of the dire situation; these little moments were what made GodParenting worth it. "Normally, a GodChild is assigned a Fairy GodParent or GodParents when he or she is truly in need of help."

"And boy," Cosmo added, "Did your dad ever need our help!"

"Why?" Tammy asked.

"Bad babysitter," Wanda replied simply. "Vicky Victorson."

Tommy and Tammy screamed their little lungs out.

"What did _I_ say?" Wanda asked.

"Icky Vicky, the Demon Babysitter of Rainy Circle, was _real_?!" they cried in unison.

"To the misfortune of many children," Wanda said darkly. "And as much as I love talking about old times with you two, we need to get back to the present problem."

"Where were we, anyway?"

Cosmo raised his hand eagerly, "Oooh! Oooh! I know! I know!"

Wanda gave Cosmo a weird look; he did? "You do?"

"Sure!" he smiled. "Waaaaatch this!"

He pressed a finger into Wanda's temple, and Tommy's at the same time.

_**--**_

Tammy watched as Cosmo rewound her twin brother and her Fairy GodMother. It was beyond bizarre to hear something she'd only heard in old archive footage – video cassette players rewinding cassette tapes – coming from her brother and GodMother's mouthes, moving too fast for them to have imitated those movements in normal situations.

Cosmo pulled his fingers away.

"…—must've stationed all of Fairy World's defense forces around Earth, to protect you from the Shinwux," Wanda repeated, in the exact tone and inflection as before.

"But doesn't that leave Fairy World less protected?" As did Tommy.

They froze.

_Whoa_, Tommy faced his sister. _Serious déjà vu._

"Back on track!" Cosmo said cheerfully.

"Putting aside that awkward and…slightly uncomfortable experience," Wanda said, giving Cosmo a sharp look, clearly indicating he not repeat this, "It did indeed leave Fairy World unprotected. It would have been an altogether unwise move. But that's where our new allies, the Anti-Fairies and Pixies, came in."

"Anti-Fairies?" Tommy asked.

"Pixies?" Tammy echoed.

Wanda poofed up more tea and cookies for the quartet.

"They used to be enemies of Fairy World, and even sided with Shinwux before. Then Xythimot – the Big Brother and leader of Shunwux – made his intentions clear, and his goals didn't match up with the Anti-Fairies _or _the Pixies."

"But what _are_ they?"

"Do you want the short story or the long story?" Wanda asked.

"Just remember: the long story's in Aramaic!" Cosmo said smilingly.

Those present couldn't help but chuckle at that random remark.

"The short version," Tammy said. "I'm sure it's all we have time for."

"Very acute thinking, sweetie," Wanda said, beaming as she sipped some tea. "Well, the Pixies are very business-like magical creatures. They treat magic like a business; mountains of paperwork and red tape just to get one wish through when they were in charge. And very tedious to listen to, too, I should add. One good thing, is that they can get through as much paperwork as you could possibly throw at them and more.

"As for Anti-Fairies, they're like the yin to us Fairy's yang. The Quizzlers to the Fairy Blackbirds. The dark to our light. Basically, they're everything that Fairies aren't. Like the Anti-Fairy of Cosmo – Anti-Cosmo – is cultured, suave, and…well, how do I say this nicely?…smart. _Very_ smart."

"Yep!" Cosmo banged on his head. Echo. "Nuttin' in my noggin!"

"Of course, they always liked causing trouble, especially on Friday the 13th. I guess most defected to our side when they found out one of their own – the Anti-Fairy Xythimot – was very willing to outdo them all."

"The Shinwux leader was an _Anti-Fairy_?" Tommy and Tammy asked.

"Yes."

"Who was his Fairy counterpart?" Tammy asked.

Wanda was ready for this, and she'd already worked out her answer before meeting the twins. But withholding this information was still painful for her.

"That's a long story, which myself & Cosmo are intricately tied in," she said. "And unfortunately, we don't have time to explain.

"But at any rate, even with the Anti-Fairies _and_ Pixies on our side, the Shinwux armies that attacked Fairy World just last week were greater than we estimated. They broke through the defenses. They showed no mercy to any non-Shinwux that they saw." Her voice broke, and Tommy and Tammy saw tears burning in Wanda's eyes. "Soldier. Civilian. It didn't matter to them. They found Binky Abdul's body, stabbed through the heart, in the wreckage of the Fairy UN. He was no soldier."

Wanda sniffled, and wiped away her tears. "Sorry. I'm just horrified at how vicious the Shinwux can be even now.

"Anyway, the strike was so horrific, that the Fairy squadrons set up around Earth were recalled in a bid to drive the Shinwux out of Fairy World. And they did. Back to Earth."

"Wait. '_Back_ to Earth'?" Tammy asked. "They were here before?"

"They were," Wanda said shortly, "On the Unwish Island, formerly the dreaded Isla de Muerta. Jorgen used it to store all of your father's Unwished Wishes. You see, he made so many Wishes – and Unwished them – that they needed an island to store them all. Two, in the end: the Wished-and-Unwished country of Tibecuador became the second Unwish Island. For most GodChildren, a magically reinforced locker made from Jorgenium in Fairy World's Unwish Containment Center.

"Eventually, Jorgen sunk the Unwish Islands, thinking he was nipping that problem in the bud. It didn't work; just weeks later, the Shinwux attacked Fairy World for the first time."

"How?" was the twins' query.

"Remember how I said Big Brother Xythimot was an Anti-Fairy?"

Nod. Nod.

"He levitated the islands back out of the ocean, and levitated them into outer space. He literally struck the Unwish Containment Center with the Isla de Muerta. The first Unwish Island was shattered in the process, but the damage was done; all the Unwished Wishes were freed, and brought to the Shinwux's current headquarters on the now-spaceborne Tibecuador.

"And so the War of Unwish Aggression – as Jorgen rather aptly named it – began."

"…But how can they _breathe_ in outer space?" Tammy asked; it just didn't make sense! How could the leader of such a terroristic organization be so…so…reckless?!

"Fairies and our kind don't need to," Wanda replied; "We're magic. The Unwished Wishes, if nothing else, are magic given form and mind. _They_ don't need to breathe, either."

"Oh," Tammy said. _That_ made sense.

Then Wanda leaned forward until her GodChildren were less than a feet from her face. The twins were slightly put off; her demeanor had darkened suddenly.

"Do you know about those sort of bad guys on your favorite cartoon shows?"

"Yeah!" Tommy said excitedly. _These guys are like the Hand clan from_ Adolescent Genetically Altered Karate Cows: The Next Generation_?_

"Well, the Shinwux aren't like those guys, I'm afraid," Wanda said lowly, her expression showing regret and hurt. And fear.

Tommy's face fell.

_Clearly not, Tommy_, Tammy said.

"They won't pull any punches just because you two are kids," Wanda intoned darkly. It was a harsh truth, but they had to know. "They. Will. _Kill_ you if they get the chance. Don't let them have that chance…"

Wanda embraced her GodChildren, who returned the gesture.

"…because I won't," Wanda sobbed into their shoulders.

_So they're more like Symptom and his posse from_ The Unstoppables_?_ Tommy thought.

_I'll pretend I didn't hear that, Tommy_, Tammy hissed to her brother.

Composing herself, Wanda floated back beside her husband. He kissed her on the cheek, and she smiled, her cheeks tinted pink.

Then she faced her wards with a serious expression.

"In any case, the Shinwux are on their way here, since you two are high on their Most Wanted List, so…" Wanda & Cosmo raised their wands, which glowed a golden light.

_POOF!_

Tommy and Tammy gasped. The shattered picture frames were fixed and back on the walls, the V-800 shoved into a corner where it was nicely inconspicuous, and outside the window…

Tommy rubbed his eyes and gasped.

Tammy cleaned her glasses and gasped.

There was all manner of wand-shaped pieces of artillery set up outside the Turner household. Barbed-wire fence crackling with magic lightning. Signs set up saying things like "Stay out, Shinwux!", "This means you!", and "Cheese!" (clearly poofed up by Cosmo). The works.

The Fairy GodParents surely were going to extreme lengths to protect their wards, the children of two of their past wards.

"…get ready for battle!" Wanda said sharply, poofing up what looked like submachine guns, but pink and with a wand instead of a gun barrel. Tommy and Tammy picked up one each.

_Scared, Tommy?_ Tammy asked.

_Pantsless_, Tommy replied—and it was true. _I didn't even know Fairies_ existed _two hours ago, and now I find myself dropped into a war for the lives of Fairies! It's really freaky!_

_Well_, Tammy said, _When it rains, it pours, I guess._

_And what the heck did we do to deserve being on the Shinwux's Most Wanted List?!_ Tommy asked.

_I have no idea_, Tammy said. _But file it away with 'Shinwux Leader Xythimot's Identity'. We'll ask Cosmo & Wanda later._

_If there_ is _a later_, Tommy said, cocking the Fairy submachine gun and gaining a dark expression.

_That's the spirit, bro_, Tammy echoed her brother bleakly.

* * *

Timmy was just nine blocks away from work when it hit him.

It crashed into the hood of his car, violently caving it in and nearly flipping the car end over end, and causing the air bag to deploy right in Timmy's face.

Timmy began counting his lucky stars that whatever it was hit where it did; he was pushing 40 MPH.

Looking past the air bag as it deflated, he saw what it was that impacted his car.

It was Danny. In Ghost form.

Timmy sincerely hoped he was already in Ghost form when…whatever it was threw him into his hood.

"Dan?" Timmy ventured.

"Can't talk now, Tim!" Danny called back as he flew back out. "Mind if I borrow your car?"

Timmy clambered out, making sure he had his driver's license and keys as he got out. "Sure. I needed an excuse to get a new one, anyway. Who's the bad guy?"

"An old enemy," Danny muttered as he picked up Timmy's car and hurled it into the sky. Timmy saw a dark shape shooting towards them briefly before the car impacted, exploding and sending shards of metal and glass raining down; all civilians protected by a large ectoplasmic shield the Phantom generated.

"What old ene—…ugh!" Timmy couldn't breathe; someone had grabbed him by the throat from behind.

"Tim!" Danny shouted. "Let him go!"

"Come and get him, Fenton," said a chilling voice from behind Timmy that made his blood freeze and his heart plummet.

Timmy turned to look.

A black robe. A pair of blue-feathered wings. Flaming green cat-eyes under the hood.

His captor.

Timmy was more afraid than he'd ever been in his life. He didn't know what this…thing…was going to do to him.

But he hid his fear, and spoke.

"Do I know you?" Timmy asked sharply.

"More than you know…" was the baffling reply. The Grim Reaper set him down on top of a tenement. "…yet. You should remember in a few moments, when the Memory Revision Department restores your lost memories."

"What are you—…?"

Doors locked in Timmy's mind that he'd forgotten were there were suddenly unlocked and slammed open, and memories came flooding back to him.

Memories of wands.

And wings.

And floaty crowny things.

Memories of wishes.

And friends.

And enemies.

This enemy that stood before him…

Was _his_ old enemy.

Xythimot.

"You," Timmy growled, clenching his fist.

"Yes, me," said Timmy's doppelganger, lowering his hood. His wild hair spilled behind his back, his fangs glistening in the morning sun, his skin a pale, sickly green.

"You look terrible."

"Good to see you, too, old 'friend'."

"You're back to bring your own brand of lovelessness to this planet, aren't you?" Timmy's nails drew blood, but he didn't care. He just hated this monster – that he created – _so much_.

Xythimot tilted his head. "You make that sound like a bad thing, you know. Have you ever tried a life without love?"

"I want so bad to spit in your face right now," Timmy said truthfully.

"Spit away, Turner. It will do you no good."

And with that, Xythimot spun quickly around, bringing up a cobalt Ghost Blade, parrying a similar weapon from Danny. Firing a small Ghost Ray from a ghostly fingertip, Timmy's superheroic next-door neighbor was paralyzed.

"Mind your manners, Fenton," said Xythimot, standing over the world's savior. "You mustn't barge into a civilized conversation," he continued with a sadistic grin, before kicking Danny over the edge.

"NO!" Timmy found himself shouting.

Xythimot faced his human counterpart, dropping his façade and giving a scowl that told Timmy all he needed to know was coming for him.

"If you're so concerned for his well-being, Turner…" Timmy felt an invisible fist grab him. "…Then why don't you just follow him?" The fist threw him over the edge.

He never made it past it.

Danny, having recovered from the stunning faster than Timmy could have thought possible, flew up like a bullet and caught Timmy before he even fell a millimeter.

Blinking, Timmy couldn't help but smile, "Nice catch, pal."

"All in a day's work," Danny smirked back. Then looked a little confused. "…Wow. I've been watching _way_ too many superhero movies."

"Nice catch, Fenton," said Xythimot, catching the attention of the neighbors. The lord of nothingness had reverted to his Anry form. His hair was just as wild as it was in Ghost form, now a dark-blue; his blood-red eyes, with those mismatched black-and-white irises; and his skin had returned to its Anti-Fairy tone. "But remember…you'll never be able to save…everyone…"

With a whooshing noise, Xythimot was engulfed in a cloud of sheer darkness and shreds of pale nothing, and when it cleared, he was gone.

_**--**_

This is how it feels to be Timmy Turner, right now:

Danny pauses, as if preparing to set you down in front of your place of work, but you know that you will never be able to focus on anything today after the revelations you have endured.

Your restored memories are still settling in your mind, and fragments of a forgotten childhood drift lazily in your mind, trying to locate their proper place in the chronology of your life.

Danny seems to catch on to this, because with a nod, he continues on down the street.

"Where to, Tim, if you're gonna skip on work today?"

The answer is obvious.

"Trixie's Beauty Salon," you say. "Trixie has a car. She has to have had her memories restored as well."

"Where is it?"

"17th and Fullerby."

"Gotcha."

_Ring-ring-ring!_

"My cell phone." You know who it is.

"Trixie?"

"_Timmy?"_

"You'll never believe what just happened!"

"_You'll never believe what just happened!"_

You said it at the same time as she did. After an awkward silence, you continue.

"Trixie, do you remember who attacked us on my 18th birthday party?"

"…You remember, too?"

"Not just that; Xythimot's back on Earth. He attacked me, but I'm alright. He's out for us, and the kids. I know it. Danny's flying me here."

"_What happened to_ your _car?"_

"Ehh," you nervously smile at Danny before continuing, "Are we insured for damages and total decimation brought on by a rampant Ghost-slash-Shinwux attack?"

You heard her melodious laugh from the other end. You have lightened the mood a little for her, and she has responded in kind.

And you feel a powerful rush of affection for her.

"_I signed out early. Marcie's in charge until I get back…_if_ I get back."_ Her voice breaks, and your heart does too at the sound of it. _"I hope the kids are okay. God, I hope nothing happens to them."_

"Well, judging from my choice of babysitter, I think I can rightfully assume Cosmo & Wanda made a return to the Turner household. And if I remember Fairy magic right – and I do – things are gonna heat up pretty quick there."

"_Either way, I'm on my way home as soon as I can."_

"Just wait for me, Trix. They're my kids, too."

She smirks on the other end. _"Only as long as you have custody over them."_

"Hey! I could always say that _you_ were the one that hired the V-800's to babysit 'em."

"_Heheh. Only if you can find the paperwork."_

"Paperwork? I hired them over the phone."

"_Well, you can stop bantering now. I can see you."_

"So can I." She's standing outside of the beauty salon she founded, waving to you. "Well, I guess we can stop wasting minutes, and hang up."

"_Whatever you say, honey."_

"Right. Love you."

"_Love you, too." Click! Beep-beep-beep…_

Danny sets you down next to your wife. "You two don't mind if I give you a lift? Might get you home faster? Besides…" He clenches his fists, which glow green. "…the Shinwux are threatening my house, too, and I'm not about to let more of my family die because of the likes of _those_ monsters."

You raise an eyebrow. "You know about Fairy World?"

"I have for years," he says. "Long story. But we got business at home. Hop in!"

You waste no time, and buckle into the passenger's seat, Trixie buckling into the driver's seat and closing the doors. Danny slips down under the car, intangible, and lifts it into the air as if it were paper. Wasting no time, he launches in a beeline for the house.

You, your love, and your hero friend are all driven by the same instinct, the same drive, the same desire.

Love.

You love your children more than you could ever imagine loving anyone. They are the gems that light your day up when everything is wrong. They – and the woman sitting beside you – are what drives you to get into that now-scrapped car and put food on the table. Without these treasures, you are quite sure your life would be forfeit.

You cannot imagine life with even one of them missing.

You will not let anything put the lives of your children in peril.

You _will _get home.

You _will_ protect them.

No matter the cost.

You turn to Trixie.

"By the way," you smirk, "For the record, _you _started the bantering."

This is how it feels to be Timmy Turner, right now…

* * *

(**NOTE:** Double update! A rarity for me!

So that I don't run the risk of attaching an Author's Note longer than the actual Epilogue, I'll put my reflections (and excuses) on this chapter.

…Finally. It's finished…sorta. I still gotta go back and fix up on the absence of Poof, and the suggestion that Cosmo & Wanda are expecting at the time of Timmy's Lastday. But other than that, I'm pretty satisfied with these last two installments…

EXCEPT FOR THE SUSPENSE I PUT YOU GUYS THROUGH!!

I so did not want to make you guys wait this long for the ending. Honestly? I just couldn't muster up the force of will to bring myself out of my own little world, where all that exists is _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_, the_ Mother_ series, and browsing DA and this site.

I could always blame Shigesato Itoi for making _EarthBound_ such a darn good RPG, but that excuse will wear out eventually, and I don't wanna waste my 'Get Out of Jail Free' card just yet.

So, the long and short of my excuse is…I have no excuse.

But I did a double update! That's a plus.

Actually, this wasn't going to be a double update originally. It was all gonna be just one big Epilogue at first. But as I was writing, I realized that it was too long and too complicated to be wrapping everything up. So, I did the split, and my calves hurt now.

Yuk yuk yuk.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that you will enjoy the Epilogue!)


	20. Epilogue

_**HAPPILY EVER AFTER  
**_**by Amras Felagund**

* * *

**EPILOGUE: The Bonds of Destiny**

The War for Earth has begun.

A married couple sits in their car, borne on the back of a phantasmic super-hero, drawn to their residences by the drive to ensure their loved ones are safe from an invading force from out of space and nothingness…

While the twin scions of the Turner tree ready themselves for what is sure to be the dividing point between their once ordinary lives, and their now fairly odd lives…

While the super-hero's preteen daughter goes over the Ghostly abilities and ensures herself and her mother and baby brother that she can handle whatever invasion forces attack…

While an army far greater than any that the state of California has ever seen regroup in the void of space and prepare for an assault that California has never seen, either…

While the realm of righteous magical beings recovers from the blows dealt it by the cruel hand of Fate, and assembles a hasty force to protect their wards on the blue planet…

While the child of the Turner twins' GodParents explains to the McBadbat family the situation in the heavens and the repercussions on Earth…

While a mother and her estranged daughter make their move that could potentially rend a family and bring darkness on Dimmsdale…

While two aliens and their malfunctioning robot from the distant planet of Kria Zyiyq attempt to bring an Invasion of their own to the Earth, unaware of the epic struggle already unfolding…

While the god of love, Cupid, sits pondering in his rose-colored palace in the heavens, concerned over the conflict below…and the conflict within.

The bonds of Destiny were breaking.

_**THE END…?**_

* * *

(**Coming Soon: **_**The Fairly OddParents Next**_!

The War for Earth ensues, with the humans and the Fairies, Anti-Fairies and Pixies on one side, and the Shinwux on the other!

But as the War unfolds, new enemies from beyond the stars bring their own problems on our heroes' heads!

Humor!

Action!

Suspense!

Adam West as President!

All of this and more can be seen in…

_The Fairly OddParents Next_!)


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